the secret to a perfect manu.<\/a><\/p>\nA Guide to Rocks also won the 2026 BookHub Picture Book Award, while its te reo edition, He Taonga te Toka, translated by Kawata Teepa (T\u016bhoe, Te Whakat\u014dhea), received the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for a Book Translated into Te Reo M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n
The couple have worked with Huia, an independent M\u0101ori publisher, since 2013. In her day job, Cotter writes for children\u2019s television, while Morgan (Te Aitanga-a-M\u0101haki, Rongowhakaata) is a visual designer and freelance illustrator.<\/p>\n
Morgan says he put a lot of himself into the father in A Guide to Rocks, drawing on his own whakapapa for a wh\u0101nau wall that illustrates how the family\u2019s \u201crocks rulebook\u201d has been passed down through the generations.<\/p>\n
![\"Illustrator]()
Illustrator Josh Morgan drew on his own whakapapa for some of the family portraits pictured here.<\/p>\n
Two of the portraits were inspired by an early ancestor who came to New Zealand from Ireland as a whaler in the 1800s and the M\u0101ori woman he married on the East Coast.<\/p>\n
What Morgan wanted to show was that the fathers might have been misguided, handing down a strict set of rules, but loved their sons and were trying to do their best. <\/p>\n
A lot of men \u2013 and he\u2019s talking from personal experience \u2013 still think they have to fix things themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe book is about carrying those heavy feelings, but also the problems we hold in, because we think letting anyone else help is a sign of weakness,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, it\u2019s also about the dad and the son finding a way to really connect. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt actually takes a lot of courage to bring someone in, to be vulnerable and open up about that stuff. At home, we try to share those experiences with our kids. For me, it\u2019s also showing them that a man can say sorry when he\u2019s messed up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other awards presented on the night:<\/p>\n
Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction: Dreamslinger (Penguin Random House) by Graci Kim. \u201cMeticulous world\u2011building and characterisation are expertly combined with a humming plot.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"]()
<\/p>\n
Wheelers Books Award for Young Adult Fiction: The Lost Saint (Allen & Unwin) by Rachael Craw. \u201cA world full of sensory detail and unpredictable peril.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"]()
<\/p>\n
Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction: Whenua: M\u0101ori P\u016br\u0101kau of Aotearoa (Hachette) by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White (Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu, K\u0101i Tahu). \u201cAn instant classic.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"]()
<\/p>\n
Russell Clark Award for Illustration: Kupe and the Great Octopus of Muturangi (Allen & Unwin) by Mat Tait (Ng\u0101ti Apa ki te R\u0101 T\u014d, Ng\u0101ti Kuia, Rangit\u0101ne o Wairau). A retelling of the p\u016br\u0101kau of Kupe and his people chasing the great octopus of Muturangi across the ocean to Aotearoa. <\/p>\n
![\"\"]()
<\/p>\n
Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for a Book Originally Written in Te Reo M\u0101ori: Kupe me te Wheke nui a Muturangi by Mat Tait (Ng\u0101ti Apa ki te R\u0101 T\u014d, Ng\u0101ti Kuia, Rangit\u0101ne o Wairau). \u201cAn outstanding contribution to M\u0101ori children\u2019s literature.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"]()
<\/p>\n
NZSA Best First Book Award: Te Onehaumako (Huia) by Zeb Tamihana Nicklin (P\u0101hauwera, Ruapani, T\u016bhoe, T\u0101manuhiri). A \u201ctruly memorable\u201d young adult novella written in te reo M\u0101ori. <\/p>\n
![\"\"]()
<\/p>\n
Joanna Wane is a senior lifestyle writer with a focus on social issues and the arts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSeeing Finn now, as this young boy who\u2019s so expressive and beautiful and open and sensitive and just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5835,1443,6449,28358,95,2346,2108,4749,147030,156,38268,228,69928,1433,31777,99385,87076,11212,46992,111,139,2551,69,5502,284108,10512,4204,105416,22639,1120,165,1960,61,3010,1680,15900,1316,1965,379],"class_list":["post-576938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-7yearold","tag-about","tag-accepted","tag-alongside","tag-and","tag-award","tag-book","tag-childrens","tag-cotter","tag-entertainment","tag-finn","tag-guide","tag-illustrator","tag-josh","tag-mahy","tag-marae","tag-margaret","tag-morgan","tag-morgans","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-nz","tag-partner","tag-pipitea","tag-prize","tag-rocks","tag-sacha","tag-son","tag-takes","tag-their","tag-thinking","tag-to","tag-top","tag-wednesday","tag-wellingtons","tag-when","tag-writer","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}