Te Papa Press, New Zealand’s only dedicated museum publisher, is flying high with the multitude of awards given to its publication, Eagle’s Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand. The publication garnered 3 awards (Best Illustrated, Best Cover and Best Book) in the Spectrum Print Design Awards on Sunday night and went on to win the Illustrated section and the Montana Medal for Non-Fiction at Monday night’s Montana Book Awards.
‘Everyone who worked on this book knew it was special and we know that book sellers thought it was special too but this laurel is the greatest tribute we can imagine to Audrey and to serious non-fiction publishing in New Zealand’ said Claire Murdoch, Te Papa Press’s Publisher.
‘Te Papa Press is a small team and every one of us here was overjoyed with the bumper crop of nominations received this year,’ Ms Murdoch said.
Along with Eagle’s Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand, two other Te Papa Press publications had been nominated for awards this year: The Extinct Birds of New Zealand by Alan Tennyson and Paul Martinson and New Zealand Hebes: An Illustrated Guide by Michael Bayly and Alison Kellow. New Zealand Hebes was also eligible for the New Zealand Society of Authors Best First Book Award.
‘The success of Eagle’s Complete Tress and Shrubs of New Zealand on top of Philip Simpson’s Montana Medal in 2006 is proof that serious non-fiction publishing is alive and well in Aotearoa New Zealand and that New Zealand’s unique national museum publisher has a special role in bringing these stories to life,’ said Dr Seddon Bennington, Te Papa’s Chief Executive.
Judges of the Spectrum Print Design Awards said, ‘…Not only is [Eagle’s Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand] a masterpiece of design, it fulfils the obvious intention of author, publisher and designers: that this book - a major event in New Zealand publishing - will outlast all of its makers as the definitive reference work of its kind. Decades will pass and Eagle's Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand will stand on the shelf as a monumental achievement of scholarship, art and design. Such was its supremacy this year that the judges did not wish to name any books 'highly commended' in the Best Book category.’
This sentiment was echoed by the judges of the Montana Medal for Non-Fiction, ’The product of Audrey Eagle's life's work is a book that will be treasured and utilized for generations. It is, in short, a triumph for all involved in its production.’
For further information and images, contact:
Jane Keig, Te Papa Manager Communications, 029 601 0180, 04 381 7083, janek@tepapa.govt.nz; or
Kathryn Carmody, Te Papa Press publicist, 027 287 7963, 04 387 2833, kathryn.carmody@gmail.com