Literary Critic Awards Celebrate a Decade of Excellence

This just in from Booksellers New Zealand.

The BPANZ Review Awards celebrates its 10th year with a record number of finalists.

Presented each year in conjunction with the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, the BPANZ Review Awards recognise the vital importance of articulate, responsible, informed criticism in maintaining a healthy literary culture.

BPANZ Review Awards judges Lynn Freeman and Jill Rawnsley said choosing the finalists was a formidable task due to the high calibre of entries.

‘We were particularly impressed with the quality of writing, the range of New Zealand and international books reviewed – both in fiction and non-fiction.’

They were also impressed with the selection of reviewers editors had chosen.

The finalists in the BPANZ Reviewer of the Year category not only wrote exceptionally well, they each connected with their material and their audience, they said.

The finalists are: poet, writer and critic, David Eggleton; award-winning writer, Charlotte Grimshaw and veteran critic, writer and academic, Dr Nicholas Reid.

All three finalist reviews were written in the New Zealand Listener.

Print media dominate the BPANZ Review Page or Programme of the Year finalist line-up, taking all three places.

The finalists are: The New Zealand Listener, Metro and Sunday Star-Times.

The BPANZ Review Awards is one of the only avenues that publicly recognise the role of literary critics.


The BPANZ Reviewer of the Year receives a $1,000 prize. Special acknowledgement will also be made for the best broadcast review, best short print review (less than 500 words) and best long print review (more than 500 words).

The awards for BPANZ Best Review Page or Programme Award will be made to the publication, website or programme which presents the best selection of book reviews in a style that is relevant to their target audience.

Special acknowledgement will also be made for the best broadcast review programme, best magazine review pages and best newspaper review pages.

The principal sponsors of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards are Montana and Creative New Zealand. The awards are managed by Booksellers New Zealand and supported by Book Publishers Association of New Zealand, the New Zealand Society of Authors and Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd.
The winners of the BPANZ Review Awards will be announced at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards gala dinner on Monday July 30 at Auckland’s SkyCity