Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award Previous winners

2021 winner Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award

The Girls in the Kapa Haka by Angie Belcher, illustrated by Debiie Tipuna, published by Penguin Random House is the 2021 Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a much-loved book.

The Girls in the Kapa Haka is a picture book first published by Reed in 2006, by Puffin in 2008, and re-issued by Penguin Random House in 2019.

The story celebrates the performance of kapa haka through telling the story of the girls who sing in a kapa haka group.

“These are the poi that circled and twirled

above the heads of the singing girls

who wore the piupiu that swished and swirled,

made from the flax that Koro cut,

that the mussel shell scraped,

that the kuia made,

that swung from the hips of the girls in the kapa haka.”

Angie Belcher is a New Zealand writer, teacher and adventurer. She is widely published and her several books for children, including the longstanding favourite The Girls in the Kapa Haka and its companion, The Boys in the Waka Ama, celebrate the culture and natural wonders of Aotearoa. Originally from Maketu, the landing site of the great Arawa canoe, Angie now lives in Rotorua.

Debbie Tipuna is a children’s author and illustrator, a children’s librarian and a cool nana. She lives in Tauranga, with her husband, approximately 63 seagulls and a couple of pūkeko. Her home studio has inspiring views of the harbour and is a short walk from the beach and Opopoti (Maungatāpu) Marae. She has won a number of awards for her art and in 2017 was the inaugural recipient of the Tautoko Māori Foundation’s Basilicata art residency in Italy. A mixed media artist, Debbie especially loves working with gouache paints to convey her vibrant representations of the flora, fauna and folk of Aotearoa.

2020 winner

2019 winner

2018 winner

Joy Cowley and Tracey Moroney's Nicketty-Nacketty Noo-Noo-Noo, first published by Scholastic in 1995, was announced as the winner of the 2018 Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-loved Book. Like other Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award winners,  Nicketty-Nacketty Noo-Noo-Noo has never won a major award, but testament to its enduring popularity and appeal is the fact that it remains in print 23 years after its first publication.

In announcing the winner, Tessa Duder noted that that the title reflected the special part of Joy's life with her grandmother as Nicketty-Nacketty Noo-Noo-Noo was one of her grandmother's sayings.

2017 winner

Mr McGee is the first of several picture books about Mr McGee (who lives under a tree). Pre-schoolers love the simple rhyming language, the fun of his misadventures and Pamela Allen’s distinctive illustrations. Read more about Pamela’ Allen here.