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Story: Fiction

New Zealand fiction award winners

Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Award
1972

3rd: Smith's dream

C. K. Stead

1973

1st: Strangers and journeys

Maurice Shadbolt.


2nd: Daughter buffalo

Janet Frame.


3rd: Pounamu, pounamu

Witi Ihimaera

1974

1st: Tangi

Witi Ihimaera

1975

2nd: Maori woman

Noel Hilliard

Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Award New Zealand Book Awards
(Fiction category winners)
1976

2nd: A soldier's tale

M. K. Joseph

A glorious morning, comrade

Maurice Gee.


Selected stories

O. E. Middleton

1977


Dick Seddon's great dive

Ian Wedde


1978

3rd: The boy, the bridge, the river

Vincent O'Sullivan

The time of Achamoth

M. K. Joseph

1979

1st: Plumb

Maurice Gee

Plumb

Maurice Gee

1980

1st: Leaves of the banyan tree

Albert Wendt

Living in the Maniototo

Janet Frame

1981

3rd: The Lovelock version

Maurice Shadbolt

The Lovelock version

Maurice Shadbolt

1982

1st equal: Other halves

Sue McCauley

Meg

Maurice Gee.


Dandy Edison for lunch

Vincent O'Sullivan

1983

Other halves

Sue McCauley

1984

the bone people

Keri Hulme

1985

Disorderly conduct

Marilyn Duckworth


All visitors ashore

C. K. Stead

1986

1st: The matriarch

Witi Ihimaera.


3rd equal: Potiki

Patricia Grace.


3rd equal: Te kaihau / the windeater

Keri Hulme

People of the long water

Peter Hooper

1987

1st: Season of the Jew

Maurice Shadbolt

Potiki

Patricia Grace

1988

2nd: Oracles and miracles

Stevan Eldred-Grigg

The book of secrets

Fiona Kidman

1989

The Carpathians

Janet Frame

1990

Visitors

John Cranna

1991

2nd: Once were warriors

Alan Duff

The burning boy

Maurice Gee

1992

1st: Portrait of the artist's wife

Barbara Anderson

Dangerous desires

Peter Wells

1993

1st: Going west

Maurice Gee.


2nd: Te ao marama: contemporary Maori writing volume I

Witi Ihimaera, ed.

The skinny Louie book

Fiona Farrell

Montana Book Awards New Zealand Book Awards
1994

Let the river stand

Vincent O’Sullivan

The miserables

Damien Wilkins

1995

Bulibasha

Witi Ihimaera

The singing whakapapa

C. K. Stead

Montana New Zealand Book Awards
Best First Book Fiction
1996

Not her real name

Emily Perkins

Zoology

Sheridan Keith

1997

Finding home

Dominic Sheehan

What becomes of the broken hearted?

Alan Duff

1998

In a fishbone church

Catherine Chidgey

Live bodies

Maurice Gee

1999

Alpha male

William Brandt

The vintner's luck

Elizabeth Knox

2000

Stray thoughts and nosebleeds

Duncan Sarkies

Harlequin Rex

Owen Marshall

2001

Emerald budgies

Karyn Hay

The book of fame

Lloyd Jones

2002

Stonedogs

Craig Marriner

Stonedogs

Craig Marriner

2003

Queen of beauty

Paula Morris

The Shag incident

Stephanie Johnson

2004

Bloom

Kelly Ana Morey

Slow water

Annamarie Jagose

Montana New Zealand Book Awards
Best First Book Medal for Fiction or Poetry Fiction
2005

My real life and other stories

Julian Novitz

Tu

Patricia Grace

Tu

Patricia Grace

2006

A red silk sea

Gillian Ranstead

Blindsight

Maurice Gee

Blindsight

Maurice Gee

2007

The sound of butterflies

Rachael King

Mister Pip

Lloyd Jones

Mister Pip

Lloyd Jones

2008

The blue

Mary McCallum

Opportunity

Charlotte Grimshaw

Opportunity

Charlotte Grimshaw

2009

The rehearsal

Eleanor Catton

Novel about my wife

Emily Perkins

Novel about my wife

Emily Perkins

New Zealand Post Book Awards
Best First Book Fiction
2010

Relief

Anna Taylor

As the earth turns silver

Alison Wong

2011

Everything we hoped for

Pip Adam

The hut builder

Laurence Fearnley

2012

Wulf

Hamish Clayton

Rangatira

Paula Morris

2013

I got his blood on me

Lawrence Patchett

The big music (also Book of the Year)

Kirsty Gunn

2014

Tough

Amy Head

The luminaries

Eleanor Catton

Ockham New Zealand Book Awards
Best First Book Fiction
2016

The invisible mile

David Coventry

Coming rain

Stephen Daisley

2017

Black ice matter

Gina Cole

The wish child

Catherine Chidgey

2018

Baby

Annaleese Jochems

The new animals

Pip Adam

2019

The sound of breaking glass

Kirsten Warner

This mortal boy

Fiona Kidman

2020

Auē

Becky Manawatu

Auē

Becky Manawatu

2021

Victory Park

Rachel Kerr

Bug Week & other stories

Airini Beautrais

2022

Greta & Valdin

Rebecca K. Reilly

Kurangaituku

Whiti Hereaka

2023

Home theatre

Anthony Lapwood

The axeman’s carnival

Catherine Chidgey

2024

Ruin and other stories

Emma Hislop

Lioness

Emily Perkins

Before 1996 there were two major New Zealand literary prizes, the New Zealand Book Awards (1976–95) and the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards (1968–93). The Goodman Fielder Wattie awards had a single category covering all genres, which is why there are no listings for some years. 

In 1994 winemaker Montana took over sponsorship of the Goodman Fielder Wattie Awards, which became the Montana Book Awards (1994–95). The two awards then merged as the Montana New Zealand Book Awards (1996–2009). New Zealand Post sponsored the awards from 2010 to 2014, and property developer Ockham has done so since 2016.

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How to cite this page

Lydia Wevers, Fiction – Contemporary fiction, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/41946/new-zealand-fiction-award-winners (accessed 19 June 2026).

Story by Lydia Wevers, published 20 June 2013, updated 1 August 2015.