Montana judges begin huge task

The judges for the 2003 Montana New Zealand Book Awards were announced on Friday. Convenor of the panel which includes former MP and author, Marilyn Waring, and writer Tony Simpson, is Brian Phillips.

This is Phillips' second appearance as a judge. A man who has worked as managing director for most of New Zealand's multinational publishers plus doing a stint as a partner in Godwit Publishing during his 30-year career, he was convenor of the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards in 1991.

Both Waring and Simpson have published books: Waring wrote Women Politics and Power, her international best-seller, Counting for Nothing and most recently In the Lifetime of a Goat. Simpson's tale of struggle, The Sugarbag Years, was runner-up in these awards in 1974.

Assisting the judges as they begin the mammoth task of reading and evaluating towers of tomes and awarding $68,000 of prize money are eight category advisers. They are: Fiction, Keri Hulme; Poetry, Paul Miller; Lifestyle and contemporary culture, Jill Upchurch; Illustrative, Mavis Airey; History, Geoffrey Rice; Reference and anthology, Nelson Wattie; Biography, Peter Simpson; Environment, Chris Maclean.

Following the usual teasing process (long list, short list, poetry day), the winners will be announced on Tuesday, July 22.