Auckland University Press publisher, Sam Elworthy (pic right - Gil Hanly) has been elected chair of the New Zealand Book Awards Governance Group, a new body established by the book industry to oversee the two book awards programmes sponsored by New Zealand Post.
Elworthy represents the Publishers Association of New Zealand with other members of the group being: Nicola Airey (New Zealand Post), Carole Beu (Booksellers NZ), Rosemary Wildblood (The New Zealand Society of Authors) and Catriona Ferguson (Creative New Zealand) .
The New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards and the New Zealand Post Book Awards are administered by Booksellers NZ on behalf of the industry.
Lincoln Gould, CEO of Booksellers NZ, said the new group was established to ensure a clear separation of governance and management of the awards and follows other restructuring and strengthening of book industry bodies over the past two years.
Elworthy said that by separating out the work of managing the awards, the new governance group could take a more strategic view.
“What can we dream up as an industry to get more New Zealanders talking about our best new books? How can booksellers, publishers, sponsors, and authors get together to produce more impact than any us could achieve on our own?
“We’re a creative industry with exciting authors, great books, and a keen sponsor. The awards celebrate that and we’re confident we can make them even bigger and better.
“The 2012 awards programmes are rolling out now, but we have already agreed to meet later this year to consider any strategic change that should occur regarding categories, judging criteria, timings for the 2013 awards,” Elworthy said.
The first step for the 2012 awards has been taken today (3 October) with the call for publishers to submit entries for next year.
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