The Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry is one category of the New Zealand Post Book Awards, given out annually. The award carries a $5,000 prize for each winner of the category awards, including the award for poetry.
"The purpose of this award is to reward literary excellence in poetic works. The winning book will, in the opinion of the judges, be a significant addition to the literature of New Zealand. Included in this category will be selections and collections of poetry."
"The judges consider each book as a whole while giving particular attention to specific elements, including enduring literary merit, overall quality of authorship, illustrations, design and presentation, impact on the community, and the promotion of entertainment, cultural and educational values.
"General judging criteria apply to all books submitted, regardless of the category they are submitted under."
Awards are made in eight categories: Fiction, Poetry, History, Biography, Reference & Anthology, Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture, Environment and Illustrative
Montana Wines is the main sponsor of the awards. Other sponsors are Creative New Zealand, the Book Publishers Association of New Zealand, the New Zealand Society of Authors and Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd.
Formed in 1996, the set of national awards combines the Montana (previously Goodman Fielder Wattie) Book Awards and the New Zealand Book Awards. The awards for poetry follow.
The Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards ran from 1968-1993. Originally called the Wattie Awards, they changed their name when the Wattie Company merged with Goodman Fielder. First, second and third place were awarded, and books were not divided by genre but competed in a single category. In 1994, the Award was continued under the new name "Montana Book Awards", and the awards were made in three categories: fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
Winners of the Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, since 1996
2006: Bill Manhire, Lifted
2005: Vincent O'Sullivan, Nice morning for it, Adam
2004: Anne Kennedy, Sing-song
2003: Glenn Colquhoun, Playing God
2002: Hone Tuwhare, Piggy-Back Moon
2001: Allen Curnow, The Bells of Saint Babels
2000: Elizabeth Smither, The Lark Quartet
1999: Vincent O'Sullivan, Seeing You Asked
1998: Hone Tuwhare, Shape-Shifter
1997: Jenny Bornholdt, Gregory O'Brien, Mark Williams, eds., Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English
1996: Bill Manhire, My Sunshine
Winners of the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, 1976–1995
1995: Michele Leggott, Dia
1994: Andrew Johnston, How to Talk
1993: Brian Turner, Beyond
1992: Bill Manhire, Milky Way Bar
1991: Cilla McQueen, Berlin Diary
1990: Elizabeth Smither, A Pattern of Marching
1989: Cilla McQueen, Benzina
1988: Anne French, All Cretans are Liars
1987: Allen Curnow, The Loop in Lone Kauri Road
1987: Elizabeth Nannestad, Jump
1986: Kendrick Smithyman, Stories About Wooden Keyboards
1985: Bill Manhire, Zoetropes
1984: Fleur Adcock, Selected Poems
1983: Allen Curnow, You Will Know When You Get There
1983: Cilla McQueen, Homing In
1982: Alistair Campbell, Collected Poems
1981: Michael Jackson (poet), Wall
1988: Allen Curnow, An Incorrigible Music
1979: Kevin Ireland, Literary Cartoons
1978: Bill Manhire, How to Take Your Clothes Off at a Picnic
1978: Ian Wedde, Spells for Coming Down
1977: Ruth Dallas, Walking in the Snow
1977: Alan Loney, Dear Mondrian
1976: Louis Johnson, Fires and Patterns
1976: C.K. Stead, Quesada
1995, Michael Jackson (poet), Pieces of Music
1994, Bill Manhire, ed., 100 New Zealand Poems
1993: Maurice Gee, Going West
1992: Barbara Anderson, Portrait of the Artist's Wife
1991: W. H. Oliver, ed. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography; Vol. 1 & Nga Tangata Taumata Rau, 1769-1869
1990: Michael King Moriori, A People Rediscovered
1989: Lynley Hood, Sylvia!
1988: Claudia Orange, The Treaty of Waitangi
1987: Maurice Shadbolt, Season of the Jew
1986: Witi Ihimaera, The Matriarch
1985: Janet Frame, The Envoy from Mirror City
1984: Michael King Maori, A Photographic and Social History
1983: Janet Frame, To the Is-land
1982: Doreen Blumhardt, & Brian Brake Craft New Zealand
1981: Eruera Stirling & Anne Salmond Eruera, The Teachings of a Maori Elder
1980: Albert Wendt, Leaves of the Banyan Tree
1979: Maurice Gee, Plumb
1978: J. D. Raeside, Sovereign Chief: A Biography of Baron de Thierry
1977: James Munro Bertram, Charles Brasch
1976: Harry Morton (writer), The Wind Commands
1975: Edmund Hillary, Nothing Venture, Nothing Win
1974: Witi Ihimaera, Tangi
1973: Maurice Shadbolt, Strangers and Journeys
1972: Gil Docking, 200 Years of New Zealand Painting
1971: Rosemary Rolleston, William & Mary Rolleston
1970: John Dunmore, Fateful Voyage of the St Jean Baptiste
1969: A. Murray-Oliver, Augustus Earle in New Zealand
1968: John Morton & M. Miller, The New Zealand Sea Shore
