Book awards judges spoiled for choice

By GILBERT WONG

A record 180 entries presented the judging panel with a hard task and many hours of reading to select the finalists in the 2000 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

Convener of judges Stephen Stratford said that in his experience the "bar is raised" every year.

"This year we've seen books of an ambition that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. There are several books of international stature which haven't even made the shortlist."

Stratford said he and his fellow judges, Radio New Zealand chief executive Sharon Crosbie and English professor and novelist Albert Wendt, had been excited by the quality of work coming from younger New Zealand writers.

In the fiction section the finalists include veteran novelist C.K. Stead's Talking About O'Dwyer, described in these pages as "elegantly written and richly complex," and rising star Catherine Chidgey's second novel, Golden Deeds. Chidgey's first novel, In a fishbone church, won the best first fiction award at the 1998 awards.

Another finalist is short-story writer Owen Marshall with his first novel, Harlequin Rex.

In the history and biography section, Martin Edmond's The Resurrection of Philip Clairmont is a finalist and looks a strong contender for the prize.

The winners of the book awards will be announced on August 1. The Deutz medal, for the top fiction title, comes with a prize of $15,000 with two runner-up prizes of $2500. Each non-fiction category winner will receive $5000. The Montana medal, awarded to the best non-fiction book, carries a prize of $10,000.

The finalists in the Montana Book Awards are: Fiction: Golden Deeds Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press); Classical Music Joy Cowley (Penguin); Harlequin Rex Owen Marshall (Vintage); Talking About O'Dwyer C.K. Stead (Penguin); Across the Dreaming Night Judith White (Vintage).

Poetry: What to call your child Bill Manhire (Godwit); The Lark Quartet Elizabeth Smither (Auckland University Press); Star Waka Robert Sullivan (Auckland University Press).

History and biography: Kapiti Chris Maclean (Whitcombe Press); The Resurrection of Philip Clairmont Martin Edmond (Auckland University Press); Kava in the Blood Peter Thomson (Tandem Press).

Environment: Classic Tramping in New Zealand Shaun Barnett and Rob Brown (Craig Potton Publishing); Bateman Contemporary New Zealand Atlas Russell Kirkpatrick (David Bateman); Wild Central Neville Peat and Brian Patrick (University of Otago Press).

Lifestyle: The Gardener's Encyclopaedia of New Zealand Native Plants Yvonee Cave and Valda Paddison (Godwit); Pacific Island Style Peter Shaw, photography Glenn Jowitt (David Bateman); Simple Cafe Food Julie Le Clerc, photography Shaun Cato-Symonds (Penguin).

Illustrative arts: The Art of Grahame Sydney Grahame Sydney (Longacre Press); Here On Earth, introduction David Eggleton, photography Craig Potton (Craig Potton Publishing); Stories we tell ourselves: The Paintings of Richard Killeen Francis Pound (David Bateman/Auckland Art Gallery).

Reviewer of the year: David Eggleton; Michael King; Sarah Quigley.

Review pages/Section of the year: Evening Post; Listener; New Zealand Books.