Awards News

Several Storylines awards will be presented at the annual Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal and National Awards Day in March 2020.

The winner of the 2019 Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal was announced in February. Read the news release here.

An announcement was made in early March regarding the 2019 Storylines Notable Books Awards, the Storylines Joy Cowley Award and the Storylines Gavin Bishop Award. Read the news release here.

Storylines Award Deadlines

Deadlines for our achievement and manuscript  Awards for 2020 are similar to last year. Check out these highlights and head to the Awards page for details:

• Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award for outstanding service to New Zealand children’s literature. The award honours the ‘unsung heroes’ of children’s literature, either at a regional or national level. Entries are now being invited – check out the Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award page for entry forms and guidelines. Deadline for nominations is 31 August each year and the presentation is usually held in November.
• Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award for lifetime achievement and a distinguished contribution to New Zealand children’s literature and literacy. Deadline for nominations is 30 November each year and the presentation is held in late March or early April the following year.
• Storylines Notable Books Awards 2020 (for books published in 2019). Submissions are accepted from July, from publishers and authors. Find the entry form and guidelines here or read more here. Deadline for submissions is 30 November 2019.
• Storylines manuscript awards. Entries for the Storylines Joy Cowley Award (open) for a picture book text, the Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award for a junior fiction manuscript (by an unpublished writer) and the Storylines Tessa Duder Award for a Young Adult manuscript (open) all close on 31 October 2019.
• Storylines Gavin Bishop Award. Entries close 30 November 2019. Find the story, entry form and guidelines here.

Storylines, in line with its general advocacy for the development of New Zealand children’s literature, offers eight awards to writers, illustrators, publishers and those working in the field of children’s literature and literacy.

These include:

• Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award for lifetime achievement and a distinguished contribution to New Zealand children’s literature and literacy.
• Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award for outstanding service to New Zealand children’s literature and literacy.  
• Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award for a children's novel manuscript by an unpublished writer, in association with Scholastic New Zealand.  
• Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book.
• Storylines Joy Cowley Award for a picture book text, in association with Scholastic New Zealand.
• Storylines Gavin Bishop Award for a previously unpublished picture book illustrator, in association with Penguin Random House New Zealand.
• Storylines Tessa Duder Award for a young adult novel manuscript, open to published and unpublished writers in association with Walker Books Australia.
• Storylines Notable Book Award List for books published in the previous calendar year.

These awards are nationally and internationally recognised, acknowledging achievement and service and providing opportunities for new and emerging talent.

Most awards are presented at the Storylines Margaret Mahy Day in March/April each year, at which the winner of the Margaret Mahy Medal presents a lecture on a topic of their choice. The Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award recipient delivers the Storylines Spring Lecture at an award presentation usually held in November.