Bob Kerr

Read the official media release (including biographies).

Last year Chris Bourke took home the country’s top literary honour – the New Zealand Post Book of the Year Award – for his work Blue Smoke: the Lost Dawn of New Zealand Popular Music 1918-1964. This year he heads up the judging panel for the same award.

A respected writer, reviewer, music historian and radio producer, Chris is well known as a former long-time producer for Radio New Zealand National’s Saturday Morning programme and as a staff writer and arts and books editor for print publications including The Listener.

Book of the Year
The Bantam and the Soldier, Jennifer Beck, illustrated by Robyn Belton (Scholastic Publishers)

Best First Book
Reliable Friendly Girls, Jane Westaway (Longacre Press)

Children's Choice
Mechanical Harry, Bob Kerr (Mallinson Rendel)

Senior Fiction
Sanctuary, Kate De Goldi (Penguin)

Junior Fiction
The Battle of Pook Island, Jack Lasenby (Longacre Press)

Picture Book
The Bantam and the Soldier, Jennifer Beck, illustrated by Robyn Belton (Scholastic Publishers)

Non Fiction
Picture Book Magic, Chris Gaskin, photography by Denis Page (Reed Publishing)

Finalists

• Sanctuary, Kate De Goldi (Penguin)
• Secret Sacrament, Sherryl Jordan (Puffin Books)
• Reliable Friendly Girls, Jane Westaway (Longacre Press)
• Circles, William Taylor (Penguin Books)
• The Other Side of Silence, Margaret Mahy (Hamish Hamilton)

• The Battle of Pook Island, Jack Lasenby (Longacre Press)
• Cold Comfort, David Hill (Mallinson Rendel)
• Archway Arrow, Margaret Beames (Scholastic New Zealand)
• The Robber and the Millionaire, Eirlys Hunter (Scholastic New Zealand)
• The Memory Tree, Elizabeth Pulford (Scholastic New Zealand)

• Maui and the Sun: A Maori Tale, Gavin Bishop (Reed Publishing)
• The Bantam and the Soldier, Jennifer Beck & Robyn Belton (Scholastic Publishers)
• Nicketty-Nacketty, Noo-noo-noo, Joy Cowley & Tracey Moroney (Scholastic New Zealand)
• Mechanical Harry, Bob Kerr (Mallinson Rendel)
• Schitzel Von Krumm Forget-Me-Not, Lynley Dodd (Mallinson Rendel)

• Picture Book Magic, Chris Gaskin (Reed Publishing)
• Down-under Dolphins, Stephen Dawson & Elisabeth Slooten (Canterbury University Press)
• New Zealand's Native Birds of Bush and Countryside, Various Contributors (Penguin Books)
• I Spy Wildlife: The Rocky Shore, Diana Noonan & Nic Bishop (Heinemann Education)
• I Spy Wildlife: The Garden, Diana Noonan & Nic Bishop (Heinemann Education)

Book of the Year
A Summery Saturday Morning, Margaret Mahy (Penguin)

Best First Book
Footsteps of the Gods, Hana Hiraina Erlbeck (Reed).

Children's Choice
The Life-Size Inflatable Whale, Gaelyn Gordon & John Tarlton (Scholastic)

Senior Fiction
Taur, Jack Lasenby (Longacre Press)

Junior Fiction
Starbright and the Dream Eater, Joy Cowley (Penguin)

Picture Book
A Summery Saturday Morning, Margaret Mahy (Penguin)

Non Fiction
The Natural World of New Zealand, Gerard Hutching (Penguin)

Finalists

• Orchard Street, Maurice Gee (Penguin Books)
• Dog Breath and Other Stories, Norman Bilbrough (Mallinson Rendel)
• Taur, Jack Lasenby (Longacre Press)
• I am not Esther, Fleur Beale (Longacre Press)
• Leaving One-Foot Island, Graeme Lay (Mallinson Rendel)

• The Wild West Gang, Joy Cowley (HarperCollins)
• Strange Tales from the Mall, Bob Kerr (Mallinson Rendel)
• Starbright and the Dream Eater, Joy Cowley (Penguin Books)
• Give It Hoops, David Hill (Scholastic New Zealand)
• Killer Moves, Denis Edwards (Scholastic New Zealand)

• The Life-sized Inflatable Whale, Gaewyn Gordon & John Tarlton (Scholastic New Zealand)
• Hinepukohurangi, Hirini Melbourne & Manu Smith (Learning Media)
• Te Tautoko 35, Katerina Mataira & Gus Hunter (Learning Media)
• Slinki Malinki Catflaps, Lynley Dodd (Mallinson Rendel)
• A Summery Saturday Morning, Margaret Mahy & Selina Young (Penguin Books)

• The Natural World of New Zealand, Gerard Hutching (Penguin Books)
• All Sorts of Trucks, Pauline Cartwright & Tim Hawkins (Bridge Hill Publishing)
• The Naming of the Land, Ron Bacon & Manu Smith (Waiatarua Publishing)
• Nature's Alphabet, Andrew Crowe & Dave Gunson (Penguin Books)
• What's Around the Rocks, Glenys Stace & Jenny & Tony Enderby (Penguin Books)