The award is given annually for a children’s or young adult book which did not win a New Zealand award at the time of publication but has been in print for more than five years and proved itself a favourite with New Zealand children.
‘At first publication, Tangaroa’s Gift: Te Koha a Tangaroa was a finalist for the AIM Children’s Book Awards, the Esther Glen Award for writing and, unusually, also for the Russell Clark Award for illustration,’ says Storylines Trust chair Dr Libby Limbrick.
‘It is wonderful that this fine and enduring book by an accomplished writer and illustrator, which has sold nearly 35,000 copies, should now be honoured with this award.’
Mere Whaanga, of Ngati Rongomaiwahine and Ngati Kahungunu descent, currently lives at Mahia Beach, Hawkes Bay. She has written several bilingual books for children, including The Legend of the Seven Whales of Ngai Tahu Matawhaiti: Nga Tahora Tokowhitu a Ngai Tahu Matawhaiti (1990); Te Kooti's Diamond: Te Taimana a Te Kooti (Ashton Scholastic 1991), and a children’s book on the Treaty of Waitangi, The Treaty: Te Tiriti (Scholastic 2003).
Her literary awards include the Choysa Bursary for Children’s Writers (1988), the Te Ha Award for Maori Writers (1991), and the Te Waka Toi New Work Grant (2002).
Footnote:
The Bookman offers his warmest congratulations to Mere Whaanga on receiving this great honour. I was the publisher responsible for first publishing Mere, and her winning of the Gaelyn Gordon Award gives me enormous pleasure and pride, and brings back many happy memories of establishing Scholastic New Zealand's (then Ashton Scholastic) trade publishing programme in the late 1980's and early 1990's.
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