Creative New Zealand has been a sustaining partner of New Zealand’s book awards for decades. The national arts development agency of the New Zealand government encourages, promotes and supports the arts in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders through funding, capability building, an international programme, and advocacy. Creative New Zealand provides a wide range of support to New Zealand literature, including funding for writers and publishers, residencies, literary festivals and awards, and supports organisations which work to increase the readership and sales of New Zealand literature at home and internationally.

HELL Pizza was established in 1996 and now has 78 outlets throughout New Zealand. HELL has been proud to sponsor the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for over a decade. Known for doing things a little differently, in 2014 the company initiated the awards-associated HELL Reading Challenge, which encourages kiwi kids to swap screen time for stories by rewarding a love of reading with pizza. The programme rewards students with a free 333 kids’ pizza once they have read seven books, because, HELL says, getting kids into reading ‘is worth going to Hell for’. In 2024, 814 schools and public libraries around New Zealand took part and over 340,000 pizza wheels were distributed, which means that more than 2.3 million books were potentially read by Kiwi kids as a result.

The Wright Family Foundation’s goal of ‘growing the good’ in New Zealand Aotearoa means literacy features prominently in its aspirations for the country’s youth. Founder, the late Chloe Wright, was delighted to have the Foundation support the mahi of the New Zealand Books Awards for Children and Young Adults, believing that reading creates imagination, ultimately leading to the emergence of writers. “Books, whether read or written, bring centuries of people together. Through the written word we gain tolerance and understanding, enabling us to share in the cultures, histories, myths, and magical spaces in time,” she said. The Foundation also supports Kids’ Lit Quiz and the New Zealand Spelling Bee.

LIANZA Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa, the association for library and information professionals in New Zealand, introduced the first award for children’s fiction in New Zealand, establishing the Esther Glen Junior Fiction Award in 1945. LIANZA added other awards over the years including the Russell Clark Award for Illustration in 1975 and the Elsie Locke Non-fiction Award in 1986. Te Kura Pounamu Award for literature written in te reo Māori was established in 1996, in partnership with Te Rōpū Whakahau. In 2016 the LIANZA Children and Young Adult Book Awards were merged with the Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, strengthening the long legacy of the LIANZA Awards.

The Mātātuhi Foundation was established by the Auckland Writers Festival in 2018 to support the growth and development of New Zealand's literary landscape. To achieve this outcome, the Foundation funds literary projects that have the potential to develop sustainable literary platforms that help grow awareness and readership of New Zealand books and writers, increase engagement with New Zealand children’s literature, or build access to, and awareness of, New Zealand’s literary legacy. In 2025, the Mātātuhi Foundation has provided a second year of funding to enable the expansion of the Books Alive programme – which engages finalist authors in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults with tamariki and rangatahi in a series of large-scale immersive events – to four centres around the country.

Wellington City Council’s Arts Strategy Te Aho Tini is about artists and writers being central to Wellington City, working on some of the city’s biggest challenges and generating connected, inclusive communities. Te Aho Tini seeks to support and celebrate writing and illustration within future careers.

Founded in 1921, Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand is the national association for bookshops. It helps booksellers grow and succeed through education, information, advocacy, marketing campaigns – such as Bookshop Day – and services – such as BookHub. Launched in 2023, BookHub is an e-commerce platform that enables people to browse books, buy books and find local bookshops, directly connecting readers with independent bookstores across the motu. Local bookshops are essential community hubs, and champions of Aotearoa New Zealand books and of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (NZSA) was established in 1934 as the New Zealand PEN Centre and remains the principal organisation for writers in Aotearoa today. Now representing over 1,800 writers, NZSA advocates for authors’ rights and incomes, acts as a communications hub, administers prizes and awards, and runs a raft of digital and in-person professional development programmes and assessment and mentoring opportunities that support writers at all stages of their writing journeys. The Society works closely with industry partners and collaborates widely across the sector to advance the visibility and readership of NZ writers and NZ writing. NZSA is a non-profit Incorporated Society and registered charity, governed by a Board, with 8 regional branches, Ngā Kaituhi Māori, a growing Youth Writers Network, and a national office.

The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa helps all New Zealanders access and use the collective knowledge of the nation. It's their job to collect, connect, and co-create knowledge to power Aotearoa. The National Library has long supported literacy and learning, and recent reading initiatives related to its ‘Growing a Nation of Readers’ strategy include Communities of Readers and Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador. Award-winning author Kate De Goldi has been appointed as the third Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador from June 2025. Kate will advocate for and champion the importance of reading in the lives of young New Zealanders, their whānau and communities. In 2025 the National Library is supportingThe National Library is supporting the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults by hosting its Books Alive events in the multipurpose spaces of the Tiakiwai Conference Centre facility on the Wellington premises.

NielsenIQ BookData provides a range of services to the book industry internationally, aiding the discovery and purchase, distribution and sales measurement of books. The company employs more than 100 staff and has offices in 17 countries, including New Zealand and Australia. NielsenIQ BookData is wholly owned by NIQ.