Southern pair win prestigious NZ Post prizes

Craig Smith

Kyle Mewburn

WINNERS: "Old Hu-Hu" by Kyle Mewburn, with illustrations by Rachel Driscoll, won book of the year at the NZ Post Children's Book Awards while Craig Smith's "Wonky Donkey" won the children's choice award.

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Two authors from the south won coveted children's book awards last night for stories about a bad-tempered donkey and a grandfatherly beetle.

Brisbane-born Kyle Mewburn, of Millers Flat, and illustrator Rachel Driscoll, of Wellington, won the NZ Post New Zealand Children's book of the year title for Old Hu-Hu.

And former southerner Craig Smith, who was greeted by 600 excited schoolchildren in Gore last week for a singalong and reading, won the children's choice award for his picture book tale The Wonky Donkey.

The winners were announced at an awards ceremony in Auckland Town Hall.

Old Hu-Hu, a story of loss and understanding, is also published in Te Reo translated by Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira.

Judging convener Rosemary Tisdall said the story was beautifully and sensitively told, helping to explain death and ideas about the afterlife to young children.

"It is a tender story that focuses on the positive aspects of growing old without succumbing to sentimentality," she said.

The illustrations managed to make one of the ugliest insects in New Zealand heroic and loveable, she said.

Te Reo adviser Paora Tibble said the translation was descriptive and rich.

Old Hu-Hu also won the picture book category, contributing to a total prize pot of $15,000.

The popular vote won The Wonky Donkey author and illustrator Katz Cowley $2000.

The judges said the story of a bad-tempered, braying mule was hilarious and won the popular vote by a clear majority.

Old Hu-Hu and The Wonky Donkey are published by Scholastic New Zealand.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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