The Joy Cowley Award was established by Storylines Children's Literature Foundation of New Zealand in 2002 to honour the outstanding contribution to children's literature by Joy Cowley.
The Award is for a picture book manuscript, of no more than 1000 words, for children 0–7 or 7–13 years and is awarded annually, when merited. It consists of an award of NZ$1500 with an offer of publication by Scholastic New Zealand.
Entries close 31 October each year. The award is announced each year in March and the book published the following year. The entrants must be residents of New Zealand.
Year Author BookRefs2003 Julie Leibrich The Biggest Number in the Universe2004 Jean Prior The Waka2005 Kyle Mewburn Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck!2006 Moira Wairama The Puppet Box2007 no award 2008 Michelle Osment Tiny Miss Dott and Her Dotty Umbrella2009 June Peka Magpie Mischief2010 Lucy Davey Out of Bed, Fred!2011 Sarah Johnson Wooden Arms2012 Isaac Drought Alphabet Squabble2013 Aimee McNaughton I Can't Imagine How it Happened2014 Emma Vere-Jones Stan the Van Man2015 Joy H Davidson Witch's Cat Wanted, Apply Within2016 Sarah Grundy The Curious Ar-chew2017 no award 2018Elaine BickellThe Little Ghost Who Lost Her Boo2019Janelle WilkeyOmeletta Hen2020Tania SicklingGrandpa Versus Swing2021Kirsty Wadsworth"Ihaka, the Unexpected Visitor"2022Melanie Koster"Tama and the Taniwha"2023Kristin Kelly"The Squeaking"
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