Mahey wins sixth Esther Glen award

4.00 pm

Margaret Mahy has won her sixth Esther Glen medal, for her young adult novel "24 hours". The medal is awarded to the author (who is a citizen or resident of New Zealand) of the most distinguished contribution to literature for children.

The medal, awarded annually by the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa, commemorates the life and work of Esther Glen (1881-1940), author of "Six Little New Zealanders", and journalist of the children's pages in Christchurch papers in the first half of the twentieth century.

No other author comes close to matching Mahy's achievement in winning six Esther Glen medals. It is more than 30 years since she won her first Esther Glen medal for "The Lion in the Meadow".

Also today, at the LIANZA conference in Rotorua, Bob Kerr was named winner of the Russell Clark medal for the most distinguished illustrations in a book for children or young adults.

His distinctive flat watercolour illustrations in "After the war" work in perfect harmony in this study of New Zealand's development after World War 2. The minimal text is drawn from carefully researched and selected detail. The award-winning illustrations combine with the words in a picture book that not only won the Russell Clark medal, but also achieved shortlisting for the Esther Glen medal.

The Russell Clark medal was first presented in 1978 in honour of the prominent New Zealand illustrator Russell Clark.

The LIANZA Young People's Non Fiction Award was awarded to Brian Parkinson for "The tuatara".

The LIANZA prize for a distinguished book for young people in the Maori language was won by Merito Tawhara for "Te Puriri (Huia)".