A small Rotorua book publishing company is punching above its weight after winning a prestigious national design award against big city contenders.
Tania Short and Martin Page of Tania&Martin Publishing took home the Gold Pin at the recent Designers Institute BEST Design Awards in Auckland for the children's book Taka Ki Ro Wai (Fell in the Water) published by the couple in te reo last year.
The book, written by East Coast author Keri Kaa, was illustrated and designed by Martin and Tania.
Its special features - the use of the Waiapu dialect, and the detailing of "who, why and where we are in the world" helped it win the Maori Language category of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults earlier this year.
To date 1000 copies have been sold.
The Gold Pin award is another valuable recognition of the small company, Martin says.
"To win the Gold Pin was a stunning effort and an absolute surprise - it's like our own equivalent of the Academy Awards.
"It was a huge event, around 1000 people attended from major design studios with budgets the size of the GDP of a small country," Martin says.
"We were up against the heavyweights of design but we had our fingers crossed.
The Best Design Awards select by achieving a level of design standards, Martin says.
"They don't have first, second or third prizes - instead awarding places to who they believe deserve to be recognised only if they have reached the standard.
There were 11 finalists in their section for the Nga Aho Award which recognises excellence in design which reflects and responds to New Zealand's unique indigenous culture, heritage, and sense of place.
The couple were one of three Gold Pin winners, together with Studio Alexander, and architects JASMAX.
JASMAX, who designed the Tuhoe Te Uru Taumatua headquarters at Tanaetua won the overall Purple Pin supreme category award.
"Our award recognises the collective strengths of the whole team responsible for the book's creation - not just us, but also Keri Kaa, and photographer Brennan Thomas," says Martin.
"While you create the book with the hope that it will be liked, awards such as this and the NZ Post Children's Book Awards are the kudos that provide impetus for book sales.
"And as we'd like to produce more books like this one, the book itself needs to sell to help make that happen.
"Without awards we could be faced with boxes of books gathering dust.
"We still have some left and want to get the remaining ones out into new homes and into the hands of eager readers, both the young and older, the fluent and the learner."