About Our Funders
The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults could not exist without the generosity, commitment and vision of its wonderful whānau of sponsors. The New Zealand Book Awards Trust is hugely grateful to them for their support of the annual children’s book awards. The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are currently supported by Creative New Zealand, HELL Pizza, Wright Family Foundation, LIANZA, NZSA, Wellington City Council, Nielsen Book, and The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.
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Creative New Zealand
Creative New Zealand is the national arts development agency of Aotearoa and has been a key partner of New Zealand’s book awards for decades. Creative New Zealand encourages, promotes and supports the arts in New Zealand and internationally for the benefit of all New Zealanders through funding, capability building, and advocacy initiatives. It offers financial support for emerging and established artists, art practitioners, groups and organisations, and provides training and online resources to help artists and practitioners develop professionally, grow audiences and markets, and manage their organisations. In addition, it supports internships and national touring activities to enhance the development of New Zealand arts. 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 support of organisations which work to increase the readership and sales of New Zealand literature at home and internationally.
Visit the website HELL Pizza
HELL Pizza was established in 1996 and now has 76 outlets throughout New Zealand. HELL has reinforced its commitment to getting more kids hooked on books by sponsoring the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The associated HELL Reading Challenge, initiated in 2014, continues to grow. HELL says it has “always challenged the norm, and with kids now becoming so engrossed with modern technology, we are bucking that trend and making reading cool again. We want pizza to be the gateway to reading addiction!” The programme rewards students with a free 333 kids’ pizza once they have read seven books and had their achievement approved by a local librarian or teacher. In 2021, 726 schools and public libraries around New Zealand took part, and nearly 258,000 pizza wheels were distributed, which means that some 1.8 million books were read by Kiwi kids as a result.
Visit the website LIANZA
LIANZA, the association for library and information professionals in New Zealand, is delighted to be a supporter of the New Zealand Children and Young Adults Book Awards. LIANZA introduced the first award for children’s fiction in New Zealand, establishing the Esther Glen Junior Fiction Award in 1945. Other awards were added over the years, including the Russell Clark Award for Illustration in 1975 and the Elsie Locke Non-fiction Award in 1986. The Te Kura Pounamu Award for literature written in te reo Māori was established in 1996, in partnership with Te Rōpū Whakahau. Other awards presented from 2010 to 2015 included the LIANZA Young Adult Fiction Award and the LIANZA Librarian’s Choice Award. In 2015 the LIANZA Children and Young Adult Book Awards were transferred to the New Zealand Book Awards Trust, and merged with the Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2016, strengthening the 60-year legacy of the LIANZA Awards.
Visit the website The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc)
The New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) was established in 1934 as the New Zealand PEN Centre and remains the principal organisation for authors. It is membership-based, now representing over 1,780 writers across Aotearoa. NZSA advocates for authors’ rights and incomes, is a communications hub for the writing sector, manages prizes and awards, and runs a range of professional development programmes and opportunities that support writers at all stages of their writing journeys. The Society works closely with industry partners, government, and Creative New Zealand, and collaborates widely across the arts sector. NZSA is a non-profit Incorporated Society, governed by a Board, with eight regional branches and is supported by its national office.
Visit the website Nielsen BookData
Nielsen BookData provides a range of services to the book industry, aiding the discovery, purchase and sales measurement of books.
Visit the website The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa
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. Initiatives to support literacy and reading are related to the National Library’s ‘Growing a Nation of Readers’ strategy and include Communities of Readers and Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador. Author Ben Brown has been appointed as the first Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador and will advocate for and champion the importance of reading in the lives of young New Zealanders, their whānau and communities, building visibility and awareness of reading across all sectors. In 2021 The National Library supported the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults by hosting its ceremony and Books Alive events in the multipurpose spaces of the Tiakiwai Conference Centre facility on the Wellington premises.
Visit the website Wright Family Foundation
The Wright Family Foundation is dedicated to making a positive difference by advancing education and spreading knowledge, supporting individuals to achieve their full potential. Its goal is to “grow the good” in New Zealand. Supporting literacy and a passion for words and reading is a key focus of the foundation. Its CEO, Chloe Wright, is Patron of both the Kids’ Lit Quiz and the New Zealand Spelling Bee. By supporting the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, the foundation hopes to champion New Zealand writers who will inspire the imagination of children.
Visit the website Wellington City Council
Wellington City Council's support for the arts means that Wellingtonians and visitors can access and participate in a wide range of arts and cultural events, and experiment with their own creativity. The Council values its developing partnership with mana whenua, innovative and experimental arts, and its heritage arts cultures and traditions. It has a particular focus on contemporary ways of expressing what is happening now and experiences that result from collaboration, both within the professional arts sector and with communities. Council believes in the importance of literacy and imagination in the development of New Zealand children, and it supports a wide range of arts for and by children.
Visit the website