The New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa is now inviting submissions for the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. These prestigious awards promote excellence in, and provide recognition of, the best books for adult readers published annually in New Zealand. Titles with release dates between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 will be considered for the 2024 awards.

There are two submission dates. Publishers are asked to observe the guidelines for sending entries in two tranches, which are in place for ease of sending to judges. Submissions for titles published between 1 January 2023 and 31 August 2023 are now open and will close at 5pm on Wednesday 13 September 2023.

Online entries for titles published between 1 September 2023 and 31 December 2023 open on Thursday 14 September and close 5pm on Wednesday 25 October 2023.

For books in the second tranche, page proofs will be accepted if books publishing in November and December have not been printed at the time of online submissions closing. In these cases, finished books must arrive with the Awards Administrator no later than 5pm on Wednesday 25 November.

Judges for the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards will be revealed in the coming weeks and their longlists for the four awards categories (fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction) will be announced on 1 February 2024. The finalists will be announced on 6 March and the 2024 awards ceremony will be held in Tāmaki Makaurau on 15 May, in collaboration with the Auckland Writers Festival. There is a total of $125,000 in prize money available for the winners.

Click here for eligibility criteria and a Call for Entries information pack, then enter online here.

All entries must be submitted online at www.nzbookawards.nz and fees paid by credit card via the online submission form.

For any further enquiries, please email Awards Administrator Rabia Khan at awards@nzbookawards.org.nz.