Awards to N.Z. authors

Press, 24 June 1976, Page 11

Awards to N.Z. authors

Wellington Reporter Six New Zealand authors received $lOOO each when! the first New Zealand book awards were presented by the Minister for the Arts (Mr Highet) in Wellington. In the poetry category, awards were made to Louis Johnson for “Fires and Patterns” and Professor C. K. Stead for “Quesada.” Fiction awards were made to Maurice Gee for “A Glorious Morning, Comrade” and O. E. Middleton for "Selected Stories,” and in the nonfiction category the award was made to Mervyn McLean and Margaret Orbell for “Traditional Songs of the Maori.” There were 70 entries in the three categories, with prize money coming equally from the Literary Fund and the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council. Two judges were nominated in each category, one by the Book Council and the other by P.E.N. (Poets, Essayists and Novelists). Although the books had to be written by New Zealand authors, it was not neces- ! sary for them to have been : published in New Zealand. However only “Fires and Patterns” was published i outside New Zealand. “These awards are one way, but only one way, of claiming the attention of the New Zealand public, of demonstrating to them the talent which lives among them,” Mr Highet said.