Judges for national review award announced

The Book Publishers Association of New Zealand (BPANZ) Review Awards are presented each year in conjunction with the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Two awards are offered: Best Reviewer, and Best Review Page or Programme. Their aim is to recognise the vital importance of a healthy literary culture and to reward articulate, responsible and informed criticism.

The two judges for 2009 are Morrin Rout and Stephen Stratford (pic by Grahame Sydney).

The BPANZ Best Review Page or Programme Award will be made to the publication, website or programme that presents the highest quality book reviews in a style relevant to their target audience. The BPANZ Reviewer of the Year receives a $1,000 prize. Special acknowledgements will also be made.

The winners of the BPANZ Review Awards will be announced at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards gala dinner on Monday July 27 in Auckland.

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.

For further information contact the awards administrator Kathryn Carmody, kathryn.carmody@gmail.com, Tel. 04 385 7070 or 027 287 7963

Footnote:

Morrin Rout lives in Christchurch where she is the Director of Hagley Writers’ Institute, a broadcaster for Plains FM’s ‘Women On Air’, and one of the two coordinators for The Press Christchurch Writers Festival. Morrin was also a judge for the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards and a co-producer and presenter for eight years of National Radio’s ‘Bookmarks’.

Stephen Stratford lives in Cambridge where he works as a book editor, publisher’s reader and manuscript assessor. He is the author of many non-fiction books for adults and children, is a three-time judge of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and former editor and publisher of the celebrated books magazine ‘Quote Unquote’.