Montana New Zealand Book Awards

Organised and administrated by Booksellers New Zealand, the trade association for booksellers and publishers, The Montana New Zealand Book Awards were awarded until 2009. The winner in each category received $5000. Each category winner was then eligible for the Montana Medal for Non-fiction or the Montana Medal for Poetry or Fiction, both of which had a $10,000 prize. From 2010, the awards will be known as the the NZ Post Book Awards

2009

Fiction

• Novel About My Wife by Emily Perkins (Allen & Unwin) Winner
• The 10PM Question by Kate De Goldi (Longacre Press) runner up
• Acid Song by Bernard Beckett (Longacre Press) runner up
• The Crocus Hour by Charlotte Randall (Penguin Group NZ)
• The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton (Victoria University Press)

Poetry

• The Rocky Shore by Jenny Bornholdt (Victoria University Press) Winner
• Get Some by Sonja Yelich (Auckland University Press)
• The Lakes of Mars by Chris Orsman (Auckland University Press)

Biography

• Rita Angus: An Artist's Life by Jill Trevelyan (Te Papa Press) Winner
• The Love School: Personal Essays by Elizabeth Knox (Victoria University Press)
• Heaphy by Iain Sharp (Auckland University Press)

Environment

• A Continent on the Move: New Zealand Geoscience into the 21st Century edited by Ian Graham (Geological Society of New Zealand) Winner
• Into the Wider World: A Back Country Miscellany by Brian Turner (Random House NZ)
• Albatross: Their World, Their Ways by Tui De Roy and Mark Jones (David Bateman)

History

• Buying the Land, Selling the Land by Richard Boast (Victoria University Press) Winner
• Mates & Lovers: A Gay History of New Zealand by Chris Brickell (Random House NZ)
• First Catch Your Weka: A Story of New Zealand Cooking by David Veart (Auckland University Press)

Illustrative

• Len Castle: Making the Molecules Dance by Len Castle (Lopdell House Gallery) Winner
• Peter Peryer: Photographer by Peter Simpson with photos by Peter Peryer (Auckland University Press)
• Certain Words Drawn by John Reynolds (Random House NZ)

Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture

• Ladies, A Plate: Traditional Home Baking by Alexa Johnston (Penguin Group NZ) Winner
• The Pavlova Story: A Slice of New Zealand's Culinary History by Helen Leach (Otago University Press)
• Art Icons of New Zealand: Lines in the Sand by Oliver Stead (David Bateman)

Reference & Anthology

• Collected Poems 1951-2006 by CK Stead (Auckland University Press) Winner
• The Painted Garden in New Zealand Art by Christopher Johnstone (Random House NZ)
• The Collected Letters of Katherine Mansfield, Volume 5: 1922 edited by Vincent O'Sullivan and Margaret Scott (Oxford University Press).

Te Reo Māori

• He Pātaka Kupu te kai a te rangatira (A Storehouse of Words - the food of chiefs) Winner

New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Best First Book Awards finalists:

Fiction

• The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton (Victoria University Press) Winner
• The Year of the Shanghai Shark by Mo Zhi Hong (Penguin Group NZ)
• Misconduct by Bridget van der Zijpp (Victoria University Press)

Poetry

• Everything Talks by Sam Sampson (Auckland University Press) Winner
• The Propaganda Poster Girl by Amy Brown (Victoria University Press)
• The World's Fastest Flower by Charlotte Simmonds (Victoria University Press)

Non-Fiction

• Mates & Lovers: A Gay History of New Zealand by Chris Brickell (Random House NZ) Winner
• First Catch Your Weka: A Story of New Zealand Cooking by David Veart (Auckland University Press)
• Nga Tama Toa, The Price of Citizenship - C Company 28 (Maori) Battalion 1939-1945 by Monty Soutar (David Bateman)

About New Zealand Literary Prizes

Before 1996, there were two major New Zealand literary prizes. They merged in 1996 to form the Montana New Zealand Book awards.

The New Zealand Book Awards ran from 1976 to 1995.

The other major award from 1968-1993 was the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards (when the Wattie's company merged with Goodman Fielder, the Wattie book awards became the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book awards).

Montana took over sponsorship in 1994 and the awards became the Montana Book Awards (1994-1995).

In 1996, the Montana Book Awards merged with the New Zealand Book Awards to become the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.