Finalists showcase strength of NZ content in educational publishing

New Zealand students need strong local content to help them think critically, engage in their own environment and learn. The finalists in this year’s CLNZ Education Awards showcase the very real strength and breadth of our home-grown educational resources.

The 2015 finalists demonstrate that a need for local content on a subject area is most often identified and invested in by our own local publishers. The four resources named as finalists in the Te Reo Māori category – as well as the higher education finalists The New Zealand Dyslexia Handbook and Working with Māori children with special education needs highlight this.

New Zealand topics also feature prominently in the ranks of this year’s primary and secondary category finalists. Finalists in these categories include Huia Publishers’ Meariki, a graphic novel originally published in Maori; and Bridget Williams Books’ Tangata Whenua, which charts Maori history from ancient origins through to today.

This year, resources with strong local content also feature in the export category. Primary category finalist the Connectors Fiction Series, which takes a peer-to-peer approach to reading development and links in to the New Zealand curriculum, was also selected by the judging panel as an export finalist – demonstrating that resources for export markets are often adapted from those that perform well locally.

Paula Browning, CEO, CLNZ says: “This year’s finalists highlight the important work New Zealand’s educational publishers are doing to source, create and invest in local content. The educational publishing industry not only contributes significantly to learning in this country but is also an important contributor to employment and GDP.”

A recent PwC report* values the New Zealand publishing industry’s total impact on gross domestic product at $308 million – and attributes $69 million of this to educational publishing.

The CLNZ Education Awards finalists for 2015:

Best Resource in Primary

Connectors Fiction Series, Jill Eggleton, Global Education Systems

Living Things: Sorting Animals Series, Kathleen Ferrier, Lanky Hippo

There was an Old Woman, Kaitrin McMullan and Liz Weir, Clean Slate Press

Best Resource in Secondary

Meariki: the Quest for Truth, Helen Pearse-Otene, Huia Publishers

Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History, Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney and Aroha Harris, Bridget Williams Books

Unravelling Scholarship English, Jenny May, Ryan Publications

Best Resource in Te Reo Māori

Hui E! Term 2 2014, Huia Publishers

Ka hoki tāua ki te whare huri ai ē!, Agnes McFarland, NZCER Press

Rona, Chris Szkely, Te Kauru Nohotima, Huia Publishers

Te Reo Singalong Books, Sharon Holt, The Writing Bug

Best Resource in Higher Education

The New Zealand Dyslexia Handbook, Susan Dymock and Tom Nicholson, NZCER Press

Working with Māori children with special education needs: He mahi whakahirahira, Jill Bevan-Brown, NZCER Press

Best Resource for Export

Connectors Fiction Series, Jill Eggleton, Global Education Systems

CSI Literacy Kit 7, Neale Pitches, South Pacific Press and Pacific Learning

Keylinks Shared South African Afrikaans, Jill Eggleton, Global Education Systems

The 2015 judges’ selection winners and the results of the Teachers’ Choice voting will be announced at a ceremony in Auckland on Thursday 19 November.