Tony Simpson (pictured) has been named convenor of the judging panel for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2004.

He is joined on the panel by academic and J K Baxter expert Paul Millar, and poet and former publisher Anne French. The judges were chosen by the Montana Management Committee from nominations put forward by literary and book trade organisations.

Simpson was a judge for the awards last year and said: "It's clear from the books to hand that these 'Montanas' are going to deliver a classic year. It's going to be a hard day's night doing justice to them all, but I'm relishing the task ahead. The range and standard of books to be assessed - including the first books - is a vindication of everything the awards stand for and set out to do and it's great to be part of that process for a second year."

The judging of New Zealand's best books published during the 2003 calendar year is carried out across eight categories - Fiction, Poetry, Biography, History, Reference & Anthology, Environment, Illustrative, and Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture. Eight specialist category advisors and a Te Reo Maori advisor support the judges.

Five finalists will be selected in the Fiction category and up to three finalists will be selected in each of the Non Fiction categories. Finalists will be announced on Friday 4 June 2004.

All winners will be announced at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards ceremony on the evening of Monday 26 July, 2004. Non Fiction category winners each receive a prize of $5,000. One of the category winners will be announced as the winner of the Montana Medal for Non Fiction and will receive a further $10,000 in prize money. One Fiction category finalist is announced as the winner of the Deutz Medal for Fiction and will be presented with prize money of $15,000. Two runners-up in the Fiction category will be announced and will each receive a prize of $2,500.