AUCKLAND 23 July 2010. The Life & Love of Trees has scooped the supreme Gerard Reid Award for Best Book sponsored by Nielsen Book Services at the Publishers Association of New Zealand Book Design Awards.
Designer Cameron Gibb was applauded at last night’s ceremony for a design that judge Peter Gilderdale said is of ‘the highest quality, and the judges ultimately had no hesitation in choosing this as the best book … The Life & Love of Trees had an x‐factor that was hard to deny’.
The judging team of Peter Gilderdale, Sharon Grace and Graham Beattie went on to praise Gibb’s work by saying, ‘The book has a huge impact, and what we liked was the way the design was able to enhance the photography in such a way that the whole became greater than the sum of the parts. There are lots of coffee table books with wonderful photos, but few of them achieve this impact – and we think the designer has to take much of the credit.’
The winner of another major award of the night, the Harper Collins Award for Best Cover, went to Magpie Hall, designed by Sarah Laing and described by the judges as ‘an 
outstanding example of a well designed and executed cover, back and front, that reflects the story in an appealing way.’
Another standout this year was Old Hu‐Hu, designed by Michael Greenfield and illustrated by Rachel Driscoll, winner of the Scholastic New Zealand Award for Best Children’s Book. Earlier this year awarded the New Zealand Post children’s book of the year, the title was described by the judges as a ‘superb integration of text and illustration’.
Also announced last night was the winner of the Awa Press Young Designer of the Year which went to Keely O’Shannessy, along with awards for Best Cover, Typography, Illustrated, Non‐Illustrated, Children’s and Educational Books. The full list of winners is attached. The judging team said, ‘The quality of the design shown proves that the standard of New Zealand book design is very high and would compare with the world’s best.’
The awards are run by the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) to promote excellence in, and provide recognition for, the best book design in New Zealand. The competition is judged in six categories, with a winner for the highly coveted Best Book chosen from the shortlist.
The awards are sponsored by a range of publishers, along with North & South magazine and Kalamazoo Wyatt & Wilson printers.
See the full list of Awards winners.
Award Winners
Gerard Reid Award for Best Book sponsored by Nielsen Book Services
Cameron Gibb for The Life & Love of Trees by Lewis Blackwell, PQ Blackwell/Hachette (NZ)
HarperCollins Award for Best Cover
Sarah Laing for Magpie Hall by Rachael King, Random House (NZ)
Awa Press Young Designer of the Year
Keely O’Shannessy
Pindar Award for Best Typography
Grant Sutherland, Mission Hall (interior), Robyn Sivewright, Afineline (typesetting), Neil Pardington (cover) for Art at Te Papa edited by William McAloon, Te Papa Press
Random House New Zealand Award for Best Illustrated Book
Cameron Gibb for The Life & Love of Trees by Lewis Blackwell, PQ Blackwell/Hachette NZ
Hachette New Zealand Award for Best Non‐Illustrated Book
Keely O’Shannessy (cover), Katrina Duncan (interior) for Mirabile Dictu by Michele Leggott, Auckland University Press
Pearson Award for Best Educational Book
Book Design Ltd for Year 9 Graphics by Paul Bourdōt, Cengage Learning
Scholastic New Zealand Award for Best Children’s Book
Michael Greenfield for Old Hu-Hu by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Rachel Driscoll, Scholastic New Zealand
2010 Judges’ Biographies
Peter Gilderdale is the Head of Graphic Design at AUT University.
Graham Beattie is the creator of Beattie’s Book Blog, and works as a full-time book reviewer and book blogger.
Sharon Grace is a freelance magazine and book designer. Her work has been nominated for many awards,including a PANZ Best Typography award in 1999
