Hiccup with book awards judging

The New Zealand Book Awards’ administration team has misinterpreted the awards’ own criteria. Following an author posting on social media about their book of poetry not being eligible for the Best First Book Awards, awards chairperson Nicola Legat said its team had misinterpreted the criteria. After a discussion with the publisher and a review by the eligibility subcommittee, the awards confirmed their mistake with the publisher and agreed the judges would be able to consider the book for the Best First Book Awards. ‘‘We take as much care as we possibly can in adjudicating any criteria issues and we are most apologetic for the upset that any initial indication on eligibility will have caused the writer concerned,’’ Legat said. Judging for the 2023 awards has only just started and the longlist will be announced on March 2. Winners are announced in May.