The $50,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize will be judged by highly-regarded bookseller from UBS Otago Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb; former Director of the Auckland Writers Festival and Creative New Zealand literature advisor Jill Rawnsley; esteemed writer and co-founder of the Auckland Writers Festival Peter Wells; and for the first time in the awards' history, an international judge, Canadian short story writer and novelist Madeleine Thien.

The Poetry Award will be judged by eminent Wellington poet and Professor at Victoria University Harry Ricketts; Chicago-born poet and 2016 Writer in Residence at The University of Waikato Steven Toussaint; and poet, playwright and fiction writer Vivienne Plumb.

The Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction will be judged by Metro books editor and former bookseller Susanna Andrew; writer and academic Professor Tom Brooking of the University of Otago; and Wellington writer, commentator and trade unionist Morgan Godfery.

The Illustrated Non-Fiction Award will be judged by writer, historian and Curator Mäori at the Alexander Turnbull Library Paul Diamond; Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Art Studies at the University of Auckland Linda Tyler; and Bronwyn Labrum, Head of New Zealand and Pacific Cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and 2016 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards finalist for Real Modern.