Random House Celebrates Two Wins at the 2011 LIANZA Children's Book Awards

This year three Random House authors took away prizes at the LIANZA (The Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa) Awards; Fleur Beale won the LIANZA Young Adult Medal for her book Fierce September, and James Crampton and Marianna Terezow took out the Elsie Locke Award for Best Non-fiction for The Kiwi Fossil Hunter’s Handbook.

This celebration of children’s literature took place at Caffe L’affare in Wellington last night. The prestigious LIANZA accolades pay tribute to some of New Zealand’s most famous writers and artists, and are awarded by Librarians for outstanding children’s literature in New Zealand.

In response to the announcement of the winners Jenny Hellen, Deputy Publishing Director said ‘We are delighted that our authors have received these prestigious awards. As the judges said in their report, ‘Fierce September is one of those books where you plan to stop reading at the end of the chapter but find you have to keep going.’ Fleur Beale is the consummate writer of young adult fiction and it’s wonderful to see her recognised in this way. And James Crampton and Marianna Terezow have created a brilliant resource for children with The Kiwi Fossil Hunter's Handbook. In the judges’ words, ‘It’s real delight is that it makes science achievable.’ We congratulate our winners on their excellent books and well-deserved wins.'

LIANZA received over 100 nominations for their 2011 Children’s Book Awards with the prestigious LIANZA Esther Glen award receiving the highest number of submissions by publishers.

Click here for further information about the awards ceremony.