Auckland writer and illustrator Pamela Allen is the 2004 winner of New Zealand's most prestigious award for children's literature, the Margaret Mahy Medal.

Allen is in good company: previous winners of the Medal include Joy Cowley, Maurice Gee and Lynley Dodd.

The award is given annually by Storylines: Children's Literature Foundation of New Zealand for a distinguished contribution to children's literature and literacy. As part of the award, Allen (pictured) will present a lecture at the annual Margaret Mahy Day on March 13 at the Auckland College of Education.

Allen has won many awards since publishing her first book in 1980, and she is the only person to win the Australian CBC Picture Book of the Year award in two consecutive years - 1983 and 1984.

In New Zealand, she won the 1986 New Zealand Library Association Russell Clark Award for Illustrations and in 2001 her Who Sank the Boat won the Gaylyn Gordon Award for a much loved book.