Winning the Elsie Locke Medal for non-fiction

Wow, our book At the Beach: explore and discover the New Zealand Seashore won the Lianza Non Fiction Award last night. These special awards are selected by a judging panel of librarians, those book specialists who know what children love to read. What a privilege to be selected by them for this award.

And to top it off, it's the Elsie Locke Medal. Elsie Locke holds a special place in my children's book memories. Her classic The Runaway Settlers was the first children's book I read that was set in New Zealand, not only that it was an inspiring story of children succeeding against adversity. So its an honour to receive the award that is in her name.