{"id":291532,"date":"2025-11-18T01:24:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T01:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/291532\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T01:24:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T01:24:14","slug":"authors-dumped-from-new-zealands-top-book-prize-after-ai-used-in-cover-designs-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/291532\/","title":{"rendered":"Authors dumped from New Zealand\u2019s top book prize after AI used in cover designs | New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

The books of two award-winning New Zealand<\/a> authors have been disqualified from consideration for the country\u2019s top literature prize because artificial intelligence was used in the creation of their cover designs.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Johnson\u2019s collection of short stories Obligate Carnivore and Elizabeth Smither\u2019s collection of novellas Angel Train were submitted to the 2026 Ockham book awards\u2019 NZ$65,000 fiction prize in October, but were ruled out of the competition the following month in light of new guidelines around AI use<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The publisher of both books, Quentin Wilson, said the awards committee amended the guidelines in August, by which time the covers of every book submitted for the awards would have already been designed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was, therefore, far too late for any publisher to have taken this clause into account in their design briefs,\u201d Wilson told the Guardian.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is obviously heartbreaking that two wonderful pieces of fiction by highly respected authors have become embroiled in this issue, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with their writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson said it was also upsetting for the production and design team, who had worked hard on the books.<\/p>\n

Johnson was sympathetic to the award organisers, saying she too is deeply concerned about the use of AI in creative fields, however she was disappointed with the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said I wasn\u2019t sad about it,\u201d she told the Guardian. \u201cIt\u2019s my 22nd book, and it is my fourth collection of short stories. These stories \u2026 were written over a sort of 20 year period, so for me, it\u2019s quite an important book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said authors typically have very little to do with the design of their books, and she had no idea AI had been used to create her cover, which features a cat with human teeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought it was a photograph of a real cat and the teeth had been superimposed, but apparently it wasn\u2019t,\u201d Johnson said, adding that unlike younger generations who are adept at identifying AI, she had trouble distinguishing images created with the technology.<\/p>\n

Johnson worried people would now assume she had used AI to write her book, which she \u201cmost certainly did not\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of talking about my book \u2026 and what the inspiration was, we are talking about bloody AI, which I hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, Smither said the designers spent hours working on the cover of her book, which features a steam train and an angel \u201chalf-obscured in the smoke\u201d, inspired by artist Marc Chagall\u2019s figures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is them I am most concerned about: that their meticulous work \u2026 is being disrespected,\u201d Smither said.<\/p>\n

Both Smither and Johnson have previously judged categories of the Ockham awards, and both said the covers were given very little consideration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contents and the close reading were everything,\u201d Smither said.<\/p>\n

The use of AI in creative fields has come under increasing scrutiny<\/a> as the technology has evolved, with some groups developing ways to counter its influence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nicola Legat, the chair of the book awards trust, which administers the Ockham awards, said the trust takes a \u201cfirm stance on the use of AI in books\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trust does not take lightly a decision that prevents the latest works of two of New Zealand\u2019s most esteemed writers from being considered for the 2026 award,\u201d Legat said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the criteria apply to all entrants, regardless of their mana [status], and must be consistently applied to all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision to amend the criteria around AI was spurred by a desire to support creative and copyright interests of the country\u2019s writers and illustrators, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs AI evolves, there may well be a need for the trust to revisit and develop the criteria further.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson said publishers and authors regularly use Grammarly and Photoshop, which draw on AI, and the situation highlighted an urgent need for carefully developed guidelines.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an industry, we must work together to ensure that this situation does not happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The books of two award-winning New Zealand authors have been disqualified from consideration for the country\u2019s top literature…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-291532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}