Writer Kyle Mewburn, of Millers Flat, and illustrator
Rachel Driscoll, of Wellington, are all smiles after
winning the supreme award at the Children's Book Awards in
Auckland last night for their book, Old Hu-Hu. Photo
supplied.
Central Otago writer Kyle Mewburn and Wellington
illustrator Rachel Driscoll have won the Children's Book of the
Year Award for their picture book Old Hu-Hu.
Old Hu-Hu also won the Picture Book category at a ceremony
held in the Auckland Town Hall last night.
The 2010 children's choice went to former Central Otago man
Craig Smith for his picture book The Wonky Donkey,
illustrated by Katz Cowley.
An honour award was also presented this year to Dunedin
artist David Elliot for his illustrations in The Word Witch
by Margaret Mahy, edited by Tessa Duder.
Old Hu-Hu is also published in Maori.
It was described by New Zealand Post awards judges convener
Rosemary Tisdall as a beautifully and sensitively told story
of the loss of a special friend, which helped to explain
death and would reassure young children the spirit of someone
could live on.
"From the endpapers to the specially created font, this book
is the complete package.
"It is a tender story that focuses on the positive aspects of
growing old without succumbing to sentimentality."
Driscoll had also performed the "amazing feat" of making one
of New Zealand's ugliest insects - the huhu beetle - into
heroic and loveable figures, she said.
Speaking from Auckland last night, Mewburn said he was "just
totally blown away, bewildered and on cloud nine" about the
win.
He had known the book was good from the reaction of the
publishers, reviewers and the children who read it, but to be
in a competition with people such as Margaret Mahy, Joy
Cowley, David Elliot and others, and beat them all was
amazing, he said.
"It's fantastic. You don't wish for it [to win], but it's
always in the back of your head."
Mewburn has been a finalist in the picture book category
three times, winning the category in 2007 with his book about
an overly affectionate aunt, Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck!
Winners were:
Picture Book and Book of the Year: Old Hu-Hu by Kyle Mewburn,
illustrated by Rachel Driscoll (Scholastic New Zealand); Te
reo edition: Hu-Hu Koroheke, translated by Katerina Te
Heikoko Mataira (Scholastic New Zealand); Honour: The Word
Witch by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by David Elliot and
edited by Tessa Duder (HarperCollins Publishers);
Non-fiction: E3 Call Home by Janet Hunt (Random House New
Zealand); Junior fiction: The Loblolly Boy by James Norcliffe
(Longacre Press); Young adult fiction: Blood of the Lamb: The
Crossing by Mandy Hager (Random House New Zealand); Best
first book: The Bone Tiki by David Hair (HarperCollins
Publishers); Children's choice: The Wonky Donkey by Craig
Smith, illustrated by Katz Cowley (Scholastic New Zealand).
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