KEY POINTS:
Three of New Zealand's top writers - Patricia Grace, Vincent O'Sullivan and Judith Binney - were honoured last night at the 2006 Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement.
Worth $60,000 each, the annual awards recognised writers who had made a significant contribution to New Zealand literature.
Prime Minister Helen Clark presented the awards to Grace for fiction, O'Sullivan for poetry and Binney for non-fiction, at a ceremony at Parliament.
"The work of these authors has added significantly to our cultural landscape and by doing so, has helped to define us as a nation," Helen Clark said.
"Having a strong body of New Zealand literature reinforces and enhances our unique culture, and helps all of us to better understand the place in which we live."
Grace's work included novels, short stories and children's fiction and expressed Maori consciousness and values to a wide international audience, Helen Clark said.
"Vincent O'Sullivan's poetry ... goes to the heart of life's big themes - love, politics, philosophy, literature and history.
"Judith Binney's work plays a vital role in recording our history, with a focus on Maori communities."
Helen Clark said Binney's writing drew on oral histories and communal memories, and used photographic sources as an integral part of the written historical discourse.
"These three authors have won numerous awards which are an acknowledgement of how we as New Zealanders benefit from their work."
Earlier this year, the public was invited to nominate their choice of outstanding New Zealand writer who had made a significant contribution to literature in non-fiction, poetry and fiction.
The nominations were assessed by an expert literary panel and recommendations were forwarded to the Council of Creative NZ for approval.
Historian Rachel Barrowman, who was awarded the 2006 Creative NZ Michael King Writers' Fellowship earlier this year, attended the awards ceremony where her achievement was acknowledged.
- NZPA
