Inaugural Mäori book awards mark Te Wiki o te Reo

massey-university

Wed Jul 15 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Inaugural Mäori book awards mark Te Wiki o te Reo

Wednesday, 15 July 2009, 11:30 am
Press Release: Massey University

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Massey University is marking this year’s Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week) by celebrating excellence in Māori publishing.

Books on Māori topics published in 2008 or 2009 have been reviewed and shortlisted for the University’s inaugural Ngä Kupu Ora Book Awards. While mainly targeted at staff and students, anyone can view the short-listed finalists online and at the campus libraries to vote for the winners.

Kaihautū Māori (Māori Library Services Manager) Spencer Lilley says that the idea for organising book awards recognising Māori literature was a result of other major book awards consistently failing to include Māori items in their awards. “The only other book awards that has a regular Māori award is the Library and Information Association New Zealand Aotearoa Children’s Book Awards – Te Kura Pounamu Award, which recognises excellence in te reo Māori children’s books," Mr Lilley says.

He says books by Massey students, alumni and staff feature in five of the six categories of the Ngā Kupu Ora Awards: Toi Ora, Ancestral Mäori Treasures co-written by Massey graduate Dr Huhana Smith is an art, architecture and design category finalist; Mata Toa, the life and times of Ranginui Walker by lecturer Professor Paul Spoonley is a biography category finalist; Ngä Tama Toa, The Price of Citizenship, by graduate Dr Monty Soutar is a history category finalist; Beneath the Mäori Moon, An Illustrated History of Mäori Rugby by honours student and researcher Malcolm Mulholland is a sports and recreation finalist; He Püranga Täkupu a Taranaki by Te Reo o Taranaki involves input from PhD student Ruakere Hond in the te reo Māori category.

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“Unfortunately a shortage of published Māori fiction in 2008 and 2009 precluded us from having a fiction category”, says Mr Lilley.

“The short-listing process also highlighted a general lack of quality items published in te reo Māori aimed at fluent and sophisticated readers.” He thinks this might be due to “publishers perceiving the market for such items was small and unprofitable”.

Voting closes on July 29, 2009. Voting forms will be available at the Manawatu, Wellington and Albany campus libraries. Online voting is also available at http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwliblog/ or http://tinyurl.com/nq2z8k The winners for each category will be announced on July 31.

Maori Language Week is in a fortnight. The short-lists in each category are:

Art, Architecture and Design
• The Carver and the Artist: Mäori Art in the Twentieth Century – Damian Skinner
• Mäori Architecture: From Fale to Wharenui and Beyond – Deidre Brown
• Ralph Hotere – Kriselle Baker and Vincent O'Sullivan
• Toi Ora: Ancestral Mäori Treasures – Arapata Hakiwai and Huhana Smith

Biography
• He Iti, He Taonga: Taranaki Mäori Women Speak – Kerensa Johnston
• Mata Toa: the life and times of Ranginui Walker – Paul Spoonley
• Ratana: The Prophet – Keith Newman
• Tohunga Whakairo: Paki Harrison: The Story of a Master Carver – Ranginui Walker

History
• The Beating Heart: A Political and Socio-Economic History of Te Arawa – Vincent O'Malley and David Armstrong
• Mäori Tribes of New Zealand - Ministry of Culture and Heritage
• Ngäi Tahu: A Migration History: The Carrington Text – Te Maire Tau
• Ngä Tama Toa: The Price of Citizenship – Monty Soutar

Sports and Recreation
• Beneath the Mäori Moon: An Illustrated History of Mäori Rugby – Malcolm Mulholland
• 100 Years: Mäori Rugby League: 1908-2008 – John Coffey and Bernie Wood
• Ngä Taonga Täkaro – Mäori Sports and Games – Harko Brown

Te Reo Māori
• Te Ngäkau: He Wänanga i te Mätauranga: Kia Puta He Aroha, He Märamatanga – Te Ahukaramu Charles Royal
• He Pätaka Kupu – Te Taura Whiri o Te Reo Mäori
• He Püranga Täkupu a Taranaki 2008 – Te Reo o Taranaki
• Tähuhu Körero: The Sayings of Tai Tokerau – Merata Kawharu and Krzysztof Pfeiffer

Book of the Decade
• Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka Volume II: Te Ara Hou - The New Society – Hilary and John Mitchell
• Mau Moko: The World of Mäori Tattoo – Ngahuia Te Awekotuku
• Te Tü a Te Toka: He Ieretanga nö ngä Tai e Whä – Huriana Raven and Piripi Walker (Editors)
• Tü – Patricia Grace
• Whetu Moana – Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan (Editors)
• Tai Tokerau Whakairo Räkau – Deidre Brown
• Ngä Pëpeha a Ngä Tïpuna: The Sayings of the Ancestors – Hirini Moko Mead and Neil Grove
• Eruera Manuera – Te Onehou Phillis
• Parihaka: The Art of Passive Resistance – Te Miringa Hohaia, Gregory O'Brien and Lara Strongman (Editors)
• Ralph Hotere: Black Light – Ian Wedde (Editor)
• Pukaki: A Comet Returns – Paul Tapsell

ENDS

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