A chilling tale of a battle-hardened soldier’s experiences in the frontlines of Flanders during World War One has won LIANZA’s top Children’s Book Award.

Ken Catran’s Jacko Moran, sniper picked up the Esther Glen Award for a distinguished contribution to literature for children.

Catran is a fulltime writer living in Waimate, and Jacko Moran follows the exploits of a character from his earlier book Letters From the Coffin Trenches.

The Russell Clark Award for illustration went to Graeme Gash for Napoleon and the Chicken Farmer. Yes, that’s the same Gash who was a singer-songwriter with the 70s group Waves. Napoleon and The Chicken Farmer is his first children’s picture book, and it recently won ‘Best Use of Illustrations’ in the Spectrum Print Book Awards.

Janet Hunt won the Elsie Locke Award for nonfiction for children with A Bird in the Hand: Keeping New Zealand Wildlife Safe.

And the Te Kura Pounamu Award for a distinguished contribution for children in te reo Maori was won by Ross Calman for Te Tahuna.

The LIANZA (Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa) Children’s Book awards are regarded as New Zealand’s most prestigious children’s book awards by writers and illustrators throughout New Zealand.

Winners collect a medal or taonga and a cheque for $1000.