Livestream and live updates from the 2025 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults

Nau mai, haere mai – welcome to The Spinoff’s liveblog of the 2025 NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults! It’s a beautiful night at Pipitea Marae in Pōneke, where the creme de la creme of Aotearoa’s Children’s/YA novelists are gathered in the hopes of snagging a trophy as a thanks for adding something beautiful to the lives of our rangatahi.

The Spinoff’s own books editor Claire Mabey is nominated for two awards, but like, we’re not biased or anything. We wish everyone could be a winner, truly! (But mostly Claire). Otherwise, Anika Moa, Witi Ihimaera and arts and culture minister Paul Goldsmith are here, and even though the free food went pretty quickly, but there’s still drinks to enjoy.

To get reacquainted with this year’s finalists head over to our rundown, right here. Tonight will see a winner announced in each of the seven categories; then one of the winners of six of those categories (excludes Best First Book) will be crowned the Margaret Mahy book of the year.

Tune in back here for live updates at 6.30pm when the ceremony begins.

Following a beautiful performance from Taita College’s One Heart, One Beat and a mihi whakatau from Te Atiawa’s Peter Samuel Jackson, arts and culture minister Paul Goldsmith took the stage for the first speech of the night. “The happiest moments of my life have been spent curled up reading a book [to my children],” Goldsmith told the crowd.

Reading is the gateway to knowledge, and the creative industry is key to telling stories, Goldsmith said. And, in a way, novelists are exporters – imagine what we could do if we exported more of ourselves, he implored. Then came a disgruntled voice from the crowd: “Come on!”

“That’s good! I haven’t had heckling in a while,” he said. “I’m sure there will be some opportunities in the future!”

Goldsmith has another engagement, so he has to go soon. Thanks for stopping by, minister!

Nicola Legat, chair of the New Zealand Book Awards Trust, mentioned The Spinoff twice in her speech. I guess you could say we’ve had the first major win of the night.

Legat also reaffirmed the Trust’s support of te reo Māori in children’s literature, encouraging more novelists to publish their works in te reo Māori first. She said that asserting their support has come “at a time when some people want to turn back the clock on te reo Māori”, to applause from the crowd.

In case you missed it, this morning RNZ reported that education minister Erica Stanford had, in October, imposed a near-total ban on kupu Māori in books used to teach 5-year-olds how to read.

Gavin Bishop’s (Tainui, Ngāti Awa) Titiro Look (translated by Darryn Joseph (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti  Rereahu)) is the first winner of the night, scooping up the Bookhub Picture Book Award. When he took the stage, Bishop said he didn’t come prepared with a speech, so he took the time to thank his publishers Gecko Press, who he said “helped me bring this book to a level I wouldn’t have been able to on my own.”

“I keep telling children when I go out to schools that a picture book is like an iceberg,” Bishop said, “There’s an enormous amount of stuff under the water that nobody sees.”

“I’m really looking forward to that glass of wine later.”

There’s a second winner of the night! Li Chen has nabbed the Junior Fiction Award for her novel Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat, which judges said was “both literally and figuratively colourful” (and I think it should also win a “best title” award).

Chen thanked her partner, who she encouraged the crowd to stare at and make embarrassed, and her two cats, Copy and Paste. The cats were a big inspiration for her book, Chen said, but they’re probably not too impressed with her right now, because they’re in a cattery.

First-time author Sanna Thompson has won the Young Adult Fiction Award for her dystopian novel The Paradise Generation, which the judges said was “expertly crafted” and “very Wellington”. Thompson thanked her publisher, primary school teacher, her mum for encouraging her to call her work a “book” rather than a “story”, and her brother for being a great emcee at her book launch. We predict she won’t be self-published for much longer!

The Non-Fiction Award has been picked up by Ross Calman (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Kāi Tahu) for his work The Treaty of Waitangi / Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which judges described as a “must-read condensing of an extraodinarily complex subject” which “doesn’t simplify or leave out” important aspects of history. It is a “deeply important book at a crucial time”, which “gives children the courage they need to explore this part of our history, and our identity”.

“I’ve had 25 plus years of this game, and haven’t stood up on this stage before,” Calman told the crowd. He said the Treaty was a positive part of history that should be celebrated, and his work was intended to be a “baseline understanding” of this document to show that “the past is not a mathematical equation to be solved”.

“Toitū te Tiriti, kia ora.”

Rehua Wilson (Te Aupouri, Te Rarawa) picked up the Russell Clark Award for Illustration for Hineraukatauri me Te Ara Pūoro, a retelling of the journey of Hineraukatauri, atua of music and dance which judges said embodied “the kaupapa with a breathtaking, synaesthetic skills”. Wilson couldn’t be here tonight, so her publisher, Huia Publishers, accepted the award on her behalf.

Another award for Hineraukatauri me Te Ara Pūoro! Elizabeth Gray’s (Ngāti Rēhia, Ngāti Uepōhatu, Tama Ūpoko ki te awa  tipua, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) work has scooped up the Te Kura Pounamu award, which celebrates books originally written in te reo Māori. Judges said Hineraukatauri me Te Ara Pūoro embodied “the poetry intrinsic to the language itself”.

Gray opened and closed her emotional acceptance speech by playing taonga puoro.

The second Te Kura Pounamu Award, which celebrates pukapuka translated to te reo Māori, goes to acclaimed novelist Witi Ihimaera, for his book A Ariā me te Atua o te Kūmara.

“Well, I must have done something right!” Ihimaera told the crowd. He said he’s only just started to learn te reo Māori, and promised that in a few years, he’ll be able to write Ariā in te reo Māori. When translator Hēni Jacob (Ngāti Raukawa) took the stage, she joked: “it sounds like I’ll be made redundant in a few years.”

Winner, winner! The Spinoff’s own Claire Mabey has scooped up the Best First Book Award for her “spell-binding” novel The Raven’s Eye Runaways. In a teary acceptance speech (omg we love you Claire), Mabey thanked Witi Ihimaera for being the “first writer I ever saw in real life”, Maurice Gee, and The Spinoff  – “it’s a really beautiful place to work, and they let me write about children’s literature, and haven’t stopped me yet.”

“Connecting with the kids is the coolest part of this.”

A major night for Calman! Judges said The Treaty of Waitangi / Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a “miracle of concision without sacrificing complexity” which doesn’t “avoid uncomfortable truths” – “at a time when the relevance of te Tiriti is being question, Calman makes a case for its enduring power … This book, like te Tiriti itself, is for us all.”

Calman said he want the book to get people thinking about the significance of the mixing of ink between the west and the Pacific on some “dead Australian sheepskin”. The Treaty “makes us special”, Calman told the crowd. “No other Treaty around the world has the significance of this one.”

He thanked his fellow authors for having enough nerve to compete in such a small market.”There’s only five million of us!”

It’s Ross Calman’s first time winning at the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, and he’s only just bloody gone and won the major prize! To know what the man behind the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year reads, check out his books confessional here.

It’s been a joyous night here at Pipitea Marae, where pukapuka centred around te ao Māori truly shone through. Thank you for joining us, but I gotta dash – someone needs to hug Claire!