Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry

The Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry is one category of the Montana New Zealand 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.

History
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

Montana Book Award for Poetry, 1994–1995

 * 1995, Michael Jackson (poet), Pieces of Music
 * 1994, Bill Manhire, ed., 100 New Zealand Poems

Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Award for Poetry, 1968–1993

 * 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 Wood, 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