Te Papa Press, New Zealand’s unique museum publisher, are delighted to advise that two of its books are finalists in the prestigious New Zealand Post Book Awards.

The finalists, announced this morning, were selected from 160 entries and are described by the judges as “diverse and exciting”.

‘Whatu Kakahu: Maori Cloaks’ edited by Awhina Tamarapa and ‘New Zealand Film: An Illustrated History’, edited by Diane Pivac, Frank Stark, Lawrence McDonald and published in association with The Film Archive, are both finalists in the Illustrated Non-fiction category of the awards.

According to the finalist announcement the judges were unanimous in their selection of the titles and Te Papa Press publisher Claire Murdoch is thrilled that both books are being recognised in this way. “Awards like this are a welcome acknowledgement of the great care and professional pride our team takes in creating books about Aotearoa’s art, culture and natural world. An immense amount of dedicated scholarship went into the writing and editing of both books, and because they’re also heavily illustrated, the efforts of the photography and design teams were similarly substantial. I’d like to extend congratulations and hearty thanks to all who worked on these beautiful books.”

The New Zealand Post Book Awards will be announced at an evening ceremony on Wednesday 1st August. In the meantime readers are invited to vote for their favourite through the People’s Choice Award here: www.nzpostbookawards.co.nz

Visitors to Te Papa will also be able to find elements from ‘Whatu Kakahu: Maori Cloaks’ featuring in the exhibition ‘Kahu Ora Living Cloaks’ which opens at the museum this week. Entry to this exhibition is free.

Te Papa Press books can be purchased online at www.tepapastore.co.nz