Friday, October 12, 2012

Changes to New Zealand Post Book Awards


The Book Awards Governance Group Chair, Sam Elworthy, has announced a number of  changes to the New Zealand Post Book Awards from Frankfurt overnight.
The key changes include standardising the number of finalists in every category to four and creating a more flexible judging criteria. This will make the awards simpler and clearer for authors and publishers. The period for entries will also change from the calendar year to the 12 months prior to the awards. By creating a crisp awards season, there will be more clarity for the reading public about what is best to read now and book sellers will have a clear window for promoting and selling books in stores.
The following is the media release BooksellersNZ issued this morning:

New Zealand’s best books to shine under revamped awards

Changes to the New Zealand Post Book Awards announced from Frankfurt
A raft of changes to the New Zealand Post Book Awards will aim to take New Zealand’s most outstanding books out to the nation’s readers from 2013, organisers announced today.
Campbell Live host John Campbell has been appointed as Chief Judge of the awards which promote excellence and provide recognition for the best books published in New Zealand each year.
The Chair of the Book Awards Governance Group, Dr Sam Elworthy, announced the changes from Frankfurt today.
“New Zealand storytelling is on the world stage this week. We want to signal today that the New Zealand Post Book Awards will provide a big boost for New Zealand literature by identifying our best books and getting more people reading our stories.”
From 2013 the public will be able to vote for any book authored and published in New Zealand within the eligible timeframe - not just the Award finalists - for the keenly contested People’s Choice Award.
And over the next two years the publication dates for eligible books will shift from the previous calendar year to the twelve months immediately prior to the awards.
The finalists will also change in 2013.  There will be 20 finalists in total next year: four each in Fiction, Poetry, Illustrated Non-fiction and General Non-fiction, and — in a new addition — four finalists in the Nielsen Booksellers’ Choice award.
The judges, led by Chief Judge John Campbell, will face the extraordinary and enviable task of reading approximately 200 of the country’s best books to pick the winners. From next year judges will be free to decide for themselves how to select the best books in each category as well as the coveted New Zealand Post Book of the Year.
Expressions of interest for judging positions - four for the New Zealand Post Book Awards and two for the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards will open online from 12 October. Writer Bernard Beckett will lead judging of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards as Chief Judge in 2013.
Dr Elworthy said today’s changes will further enhance the value of the New Zealand Post Book Awards to all readers.
“Thanks to the enthusiasm of New Zealand Post to get this country reading, the New Zealand Post Book Awards will get bigger and better each year. These changes will be great for authors, publishers, booksellers and most of all to the public who we know are keen to read our great New Zealand stories.”
As a result of the changes, readers will see the shortlisted books at events, online, in bookstores and libraries across the country, leading to a lively conversation over what are the best books to read.


1 comment:

Helen Lowe said...

It's still disappointing that the shortlist for the Best Debut works have not been reinstated or that these awards do not properly stand alongside the others awards if not outreight being incorporated in them. I think we are missing a tremendous opportunity to highlight a range of new voices, the exploratory, the pioneering, and the 'fresh' as part of our celebration of NZ literature.

I am also unsure how changing the 'year' is going to work in practice: while superficially attractive I suspect it may be hard to make work well in practice.