New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults: YA Fiction Award

A note on the history of this award

Prior to 1993, there was no separate literary award in New Zealand recognising Young Adult fiction, but some winners of the Esther Glen Award for junior fiction would be considered part of the YA canon today. The YA Fiction Award proper came into existence in the year 1993 as part of the AIM Children’s Book Awards, and was known as the “Senior Fiction Award” from 1993-2004. In 1997, the AIM Children’s Book Awards became the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards, and then it changed again to the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2004, at which time the “Senior Fiction Award” became the “Young Adult Fiction Award.”

The overall awards are now known as the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, and the Young Adult Fiction Award currently carries prize money of NZ$7,500. In its distinguished history, it has been won by a number of the greats of New Zealand literature, with luminaries like Margaret Mahy, Jack Lasenby, Kate De Goldi, Maurice Gee, Tessa Duder, Elizabeth Knox and more in its list of recipients.

We have most of the award-winning books in our collection — explore the full list below.

Updated June 19, 2024
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Wellington City LibrariesYouth team at Wellington City Libraries
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In the dark spaces
Black, Cally
Paper Book
Winner of the Ampersand Prize, IN THE DARK SPACES is a genre-smashing hostage drama about 14-year-old Tamara, who's faced with an impossible choice when she falls for her kidnappers. Yet this is no ordinary kidnapping. Tamara has been living on a star freighter...

NZCYA Book Awards – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2018 winner

Iris and me
Werry, Philippa
Paper Book
So begins the story of Iris Wilkinson, who wrote poetry, novels and journalism under the pen name Robin Hyde. In January 1938, she left New Zealand for England. On the way, intrigued by glimpses of China, she ventured inland despite the war raging there, becoming one of the first women war...
NZCYA Book Awards – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2023 winner
The severed land
Gee, Maurice
Paper Book
This gripping, page-turning fantasy adventure follows a dangerous quest through a divided world. From the high reaches of a tree, Fliss watches the soldiers attempting yet again to break through the invisible wall. Amid the explosions, a drummer boy tries to escape. As he is about...

NZCYA Book Awards – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2017 winner

Learning to love blue
Koirala, Saradha
Paper Book
Learning to love Blue is the long-awaited sequel to 2017 Storylines Notable Book Award winner Lonesome when you go.With Vox Pop and high school behind her, 18-year-old Paige arrives in Melbourne with her suitcase and bass guitar; a copy of Bob Dylan's Chronicles and Joni Mitchell's Blue - a gift...

NZCYA Book Awards – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2022 winner

Battlesaurus : rampage at Waterloo
Falkner, Brian
Paper Book
This riveting alt history reimagines the 1815 Battle of Waterloo as something other than a crushing defeat for the French emperor Napoléon Bonaparte, when he unleashes a terrible secret weapon--giant carnivorous survivors from pre-history--on his unsuspecting British and Prussian adversaries. In...

NZCYA Book Awards – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2016 winner

The po?rangi boy
Kino, Shilo
Paper Book
"Twelve-year-old Niko lives in Pohe Bay, a small, rural town with a sacred hot spring and a taniwha named Taukere. The government plan to build a prison here and destroy the home of the taniwha has divided the community. Some are against it, but others see it as an opportunity. Niko is worried about...

NZCYA Book Awards – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2021 winner

Stray
Craw, Rachael
Paper Book
The second book in an exciting new YA/crossover series about genetically engineered individuals with superhuman abilities. It's hard to remember hating anything as much as I hate Affinity; a bone-deep loathing for the faceless unknown and the concrete walls of my own DNA.<...

NZCYA Book Awards – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2016 Children's Choice winner

Singing home the whale
Hager, Mandy
Paper Book
An award-winning and extraordinary story of a boy who protects a baby whale that locals believe is threatening their livelihood. Winner of the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2015 Young Adult...

NZCYA Book Awards – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2015 winner

Aspiring
Wilkins, Damien
Paper Book
Sixteen-year-old Ricky has a part time job in a cafe in a South Island town being transformed by tourism. Over several months, as Ricky bicycles through the town and his daily round, we bear witness to his friendships, the trial and hilarity of school, his stirrings for prickly Keri, the mystery of...

NZCYA Book Awards – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2020 winner

Legacy
Hereaka, Whiti
Paper Book
Seventeen-year-old Riki is worried about school and the future, but mostly about his girlfriend, who has suddenly stopped texting him. But on his way to see her, he's hit by a bus and his life radically changes. Riki wakes up one hundred years earlier in Egypt, in 1915, and finds he's living through...

NZCYA Book Awards – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2019 winner

Night vision
West, Ella
Paper Book
In the dark, Viola sees things no one else does . until the night she sees something she shouldn't. Would you take the money and run?

NZCYA Book Awards – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2015 Children's Choice winner

Mortal fire
Knox, Elizabeth
Paper Book
A mysterious and compelling teen fantasy novel. When sixteen-year-old Canny of the Pacific island, Southland, sets out on a trip with her stepbrother and his girlfriend, she finds herself drawn into enchanting Zarene Valley where the mysterious but dark seventeen-year-old Ghislain helps her to...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2014 winner

Into the river
Dawe, Ted.
Paper Book
Some rivers should not be swum in. Some rivers hold secrets that can never be told... When Te Arepa Santos is dragged into the river by a giant eel, something happens that will change the course of his entire life. The boy who struggles to the bank in not the same as the one who plunged in moments...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2013 winner

Calling the gods
Lasenby, Jack.
Paper Book
When the challenge is to save not just yourself but an entire community, the stakes are high. Thrown hard on the bottom boards, I stared up at distorted mouths, faces so red I could feel their heat. they stank of rage and of something else; several frothed at the mouth; their howls...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2012 winner

The bridge
Higgins, Jane.
Paper Book
Nik is still in high school but destined for a great career with the Internal Security and Intelligence Services. But when ISIS comes recruiting, everyone is shocked when he isn't chosen. There must be an explanation, but no one will talk about it. Then the school is bombed and the hostiles take the...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2012 Honour Award

Fierce September
Beale, Fleur.
Paper Book
Juno of Taris faces more dangers in the second in the award-winning sci fi / fantasy YA novel series. Juno and the Taris inhabitants must leave their dying island. The young people look forward to a wider life Outside, but Outside too has its problems. It is two-year-old Hera,...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2011 winner

Smiling Jack
Catran, Ken.
Paper Book
A classic whodunnit with a startling and unexpected twist, Ken Catran's dark and brooding murder mystery is a real page-turner that will have you looking over your shoulder like Robert, desperately trying to second guess Smiling Jack..A murder mystery for teens set in small town New Zealand. ...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2011 Children's Choice winner

The crossing
Hager, Mandy.
Paper Book
The first book in the stunning Blood of the Lamb trilogy, full of action, suspense and drama. The Crossing is the first book in a stunning trilogy that follows the fate of Maryam and her unlikely companions - Joseph, Ruth and Lazarus. This is fast, suspenseful drama...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2010 winner

Brainjack
Falkner, Brian
Paper Book
Another terrifying sci-fi page-turner from the author of The Tomorrow Code! Las Vegas is gone--destroyed in a terrorist attack. Black Hawk helicopters patrol the skies over New York City. And immersive online gaming is the most dangerous street drug around. In this dystopic near-future,...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2010 Children's Choice winner

The 10 pm question
De Goldi, Kate
Paper Book
Published around the world to great acclaim. A tender, beautifully told, award - winning novel by New Zealand's most loved writer for children. Frankie Parsons is twelve going on old man: an apparently sensible, talented boy with a drumbeat of worrying questions steadily gaining volume in his head....

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2009 winner

Salt
Gee, Maurice.
Paper Book
In a dangerous world, Deep Salt strikes terror into the heart of everyone. Hari lives in Blood Burrow, deep in the ruined city of Belong, where he survives by courage and savagery. He is scarred from fighting, he is dangerous and cruel, but he has a secret gift: he can speak with animals. When his...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2008 winner

The sea-wreck stranger
Mackenzie, Anna
Paper Book
Riveting post-apocalyptic YA fantasy, this is an award-winning thriller you can't put down. Winner of the Honour Award at the 2008 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards, joint winner of the 2008 Sir Julius Vogel Awards and awarded the prestigious White Raven Award for...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2008 Honour Award

Genesis
Beckett, Bernard
Paper Book
Go forward in time: it's nearing the end of the century. Do you see a dramatically altered New Zealand? In Genesis, Bernard Beckett, one of our most provocative writers for young adults, gives us his view of a brave new world. In a terrifying and stifl ing examination environment a young Academy...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2007 winner

With lots of love from Georgia
Lowry, Brigid.
Paper Book
Money can't buy you love, but sometimes you find one when you think you need the other. Georgia's fifteenth year starts in pursuit of money (for a trip to see her favourite band), and ends with an unexpected pay-off - first love. A funny and engaging novel written in a playful, inventive style.

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2006 winner

Kaitangata twitch
Mahy, Margaret.
Paper Book
What happens to a girl who has dangerous dreams? What if the land itself punishes those who would harm it? This is a supernatural eco-thriller for young teenagers, by internationally acclaimed New Zealand author Margaret Mahy, about a girl caught up in a fight over a beautiful wild island, where...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2006 Honour Award

Malcolm and Juliet
Beckett, Bernard
Paper Book
Beckett's young adult novel not only tackles the contentious subject of sex, it undercuts, subverts and sends it up as well. Sex was a latecomer to the party of Malcolm's life, and when it did arrive, it didn't come dressed in any of the usual guises. With the...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2005 winner

Thunder road
Dawe, Ted.
Paper Book
Which street racer really controls the strip? An award-winning YA novel full of fast cars, burn-offs and an unwritten code of loyalty. 'Thunder Road' . You find it in any city after the cops are in bed. It's where street racers go to test their machines - and their nerve. For me...

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Young Adult Fiction Award – 2004 winner

Alchemy
Mahy, Margaret.
Paper Book
Mindblowing new novel from multi-awardwinning author, Margaret Mahy. Roland has everything a young man could wish for - good looks, enough money, a cool relationship with his mother, ready wit, intelligence, a sexy girlfriend, a perfect school record. So the fact that he committed a...

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards – Senior Fiction Award – 2003 winner

Owl : a novel
Orwin, Joanna.
Paper Book
A gripping adventure based on an ancient Maori myth is brought to life in this award-winning junior novel. 'A dark shape hurtled out of the fog . . . The bird turned in a curving steep dive, aiming for Tama . . . The boy was being dragged beneath it, his feet barely brushing the...

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards – Senior Fiction Award – 2002 winner

Voyage with Jason
Catran, Ken.
Paper Book
The story of Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece remains a favorite with children. Ken Catran's version of the tale takes a slightly different tack from previous authors. Pylos, an apprentice shipbuilder, is rescued by Hercules from his cruel master and accompanies the Argonauts as the ship's...

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards – Senior Fiction Award – 2001 winner

The Tiggie Tompson show
Duder, Tessa.
Paper Book
Tiggie, the daughter of a high-profile television and print journalist and a top corporate accountant, believes herself talentless and too fat. She dreams of being a famous photographer - photographers make images, their own doesn't matter. When Tiggie scores the role of a lifetime, she realises...

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards – Senior Fiction Award – 2000 winner

Taur
Lasenby, Jack.
Paper Book
Second in the Travellers series, in this work Ish flees south with his friend, Taur, the mute bull man. But nowhere is there refuge from the brutal Squint-face. Across the ice of Cook Strait lies the South Land - can Ish and Taur find peace there?

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards – Senior Fiction Award – 1999 winner

Dare truth or promise
Boock, Paula
Paper Book
When Louie and Willa first meet, they don't know their lives will soon be changed forever. Self-assured Louie is gearing up for another successful year in high school, starring in a production of Twelfth Night and running the Comedy Club. Kicked out of her last school and still stinging from a...

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards – Senior Fiction Award – 1998 winner

Sanctuary
De Goldi, Kate
Paper Book
Winner of the NZ Post Children's Book Awards, this compelling novel explores truth and lies, guilt, grief and love. 'So where does the truth lie?' said Jeremiah. 'Huh, truth lies. Truth lies,' I said, giving up before I started, knowing I could never explain....

New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards – Senior Fiction Award – 1997 winner

The blue lawn
Taylor, William
Paper Book
This is a powerful novel of relationships, t he story of a strong physical attraction between two young m en. How to you deal with such feelings when you don''t know w hat you may really want? Where, or to whom, do you turn for help? '

AIM Children's Book Awards – Senior Fiction Award – 1995 winner

Songs for Alex
Duder, Tessa.
Paper Book

AIM Children's Book Awards – Senior Fiction Award – 1993 winner


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