Wellingtonians win top children's book awards

BY STACEY WOOD

Two Wellingtonians have won top prizes at this year's New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards.

Old Hu-Hu, written by Kyle Mewburn of Central Otago and illustrated by Wellingtonian Rachel Driscoll, won the supreme award.

The book revolves around a family of huhu bugs and is described by publishers as a story of death and the celebration of life, reassuring children about losing a loved one.

The winners were announced at a ceremony in Auckland last night.

Awards convener Rosemary Tindall said Old Hu-Hu was "the complete package".

"It is a tender story that focuses on the positive aspects of growing old without succumbing to sentimentality. Driscoll has also performed the amazing feat of making one of New Zealand's ugliest insects ... heroic and loveable."

Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira's Maori translation of the book, Hu-Hu Koroheke, was also highly praised.

Wellington writer Mandy Hager, sister of investigative journalist Nicky Hager, won the young adult fiction category with Blood of the Lamb: The Crossing, a coming-of-age story about a girl from a Pacific island, and the horrors she faces after being taken on a journey away from the island.

One of New Zealand's most acclaimed writers, Margaret Mahy, won the honour award for The Word Witch, a picture-book collection of many of her poems, edited by Tessa Duder.

The children's choice award went to The Wonky Donkey, a popular story about a bad-tempered, braying mule, written by Craig Smith and illustrated by Katz Cowley.

Winners:

Picture Book and New Zealand Post Book of the Year: Old Hu-Hu by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Rachel Driscoll

Honour Award: The Word Witch by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by David Elliot and edited by Tessa Duder

Non-fiction: E3 Call Home by Janet Hunt

Junior Fiction: The Loblolly Boy by James Norcliffe

Young Adult Fiction: Blood of the Lamb: The Crossing by Mandy Hager

Best First Book Award: The Bone Tiki by David Hair

Children's Choice Award: The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith, illustrated by Katz Cowley.

- © Fairfax NZ News