NZ Post Children's Book Awards Winners

The winners of the 2011 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards were announced last week. Canterbury literary legend, Margaret Mahy and Dunedin illustrator, David Elliot, have won the New Zealand Post Children’s Book of the Year Award for their picture book, The Moon & Farmer McPhee.

Special congratulations to our local South Canterbury author Ken Catran for winning the Children's Choice Award Young Adult category for his exciting Smiling Jack, described by Booksellers NZ as "a classic whodunnit with a startling and unexpected twist".

Copies of all the finalists' books are held in our libraries. These are simply the best ... read them!!!

The full list of winners are…

Picture Book Category Award Winner and New Zealand Post Book of the Year
The Moon & Farmer McPhee
Margaret Mahy & David Elliot

Non-fiction Category Award Winner

Zero Hour: The Anzacs on the Western Front
Leon Davidson

Junior Fiction Category Award Winner Finnigan & the Pirates
Sherryl Jordan

Young Adult Fiction Category Award Winner

Fierce September
Fleur Beale

Best First Book Award
Best First Book Award Winner

Hollie Chips
Anna Gowan

Children’s Choice Awards
Children’s Choice Award Winner – Overall winner and Children’s Choice Picture Book Category WinnerBaa Baa Smart Sheep
Mark Sommerset & Rowan Sommerset

Children’s Choice Award Non-fiction Category
Who’s Cooking Tonight?
Claire Gourley & Glenda Gourley

Children’s Choice Award Junior Fiction Category

Hollie Chips
Anna Gowan

Children’s Choice Award Young Adult Category

Smiling Jack
Ken Catran

Winning writers!

Holly Bamber (left) from Bluestone School was the winner of the Year 1-3 Ursula Moray Williams Creative Writing Competition for her wonderful story "When I was four". She is shown here at her school assembly with Ursula Moray Williams Cup winner Samantha Elliott. Great writing Holly and Samantha!!!
(See previous post for photos of winners at the presentation ceremony at the library).

Ursula Moray Williams Creative Writing Competition winners

Congratulations to all the winners in the Ursula Moray Williams Creative Writing Competition. Click here to see the list of winners. Keep up the great writing! And look out for our special Ursula Moray Williams centennial year writing competition to be held as part of the centenary celebrations next year. Write on!

The photo shows (from left) Chelsea Farrant, Year 1-3 Runner Up for her story The monster next door; Samantha Elliott, Winner of the 2010 Ursula Moray Williams Cup for Children's Writing and winner of Year 4-6 for her story The enchanted library; and Susanna Blogg, Winner of Year 11-13 for her story The Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Special thanks to The Friends of the Library and the South Canterbury Aoraki Reading Association for their sponsorship of the competition.

Kids' Book Quiz winners!

Happy winners in the first ever South Canterbury Aoraki Kids' Book Quiz hosted by Pleasant Point Primary School at the end of last term. Twenty teams competed fiercely to win books donated by Scholastic, Random House and Timaru District Libraries. The winners were:
Year 7 & 8:

1st Big Hearts from Sacred Heart School, Timaru
2nd Sparta team from St Josephs School Timaru
3rd Mockingjays from Bluestone School

Year 5 & 6:
1st Rapid Readers from Gleniti School
2nd Brainy Bookworms from Bluestone School
3rd Raspberries from St Josephs School Timaru

Congratulations to all these great readers!! We look forward to next years' event to see who will be rewarded for year of reading widely... :-)

Library Week Story competition!!! Enter here ...

The Library Week Interactive Story Competition is open to year 6, 7 and 8 students and runs until Friday. New Zealand author Kate De Goldie has opened the story and children will contribute creative writing each day to build an ongoing story.
Click here to read the story so far and to enter

Write on ...

Read Every Day prizewinners

Congratulations to the winners in the Read Every Day July School Holiday Programme who received their prizes last Thursday at the Children’s Library. Entries were well up on previous years with over 400 received. The theme was RED, inspired by the Sir Peter Blake Trust Red Sock Day and also short for Read Every Day. Holiday competitions included a quiz, scavenger hunt, creating a new red book character, word puzzles on a leadership theme, and poetry writing to celebrate NZ Poetry Day. Prize-winning poems will be posted soon ... watch this space!

The heat is on ...

The heat has been turned up for Team Cuisine from Barton Rural School. Xtreme Reader Connor Chisnall has turned his hand to cooking and has just competed in the Regional Cook-Off for the Maggi Intermediate Kitchen Showdown. Great work guys!!!