Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award 2020
Congratulations to Christchurch author, librarian and reviewer Lorraine Orman, the winner of the 2020 Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award for services to New Zealand children’s literature.
Her achievements as an author of ten books include her first young adult novel Cross Tides winning the New Zealand Post Book Awards’ Best First Book award in 2005. She has also won three Storylines Notable Book awards. Her stories have appeared in the School Journal and numerous anthologies and been included in novella series published in both Australia and New Zealand by major publishers Penguin, Scholastic and Walker Books Australia.
A graduate of the University of Auckland, Lorraine worked in various school and tertiary education libraries before becoming a writer and reviewer. Her own website Story-Go-Round was one of the first online review sites, and she has reviewed books for the Kids Books New Zealand blog site for more than ten years. She has been a judge for three national children’s book awards.
Lorraine’s work as a supportive and generous mentor has won her a wide following, particularly among beginning writers and as a mentor for the New Zealand Society of Authors. For several years she ran ‘how to write children’s books’ workshops for technical institutes, and over her writing career she has given numerous author talks, workshops and speeches for libraries and schools.
The Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award was inaugurated in 1990 to honour Auckland writer Betty Gilderdale, a lifelong advocate and supporter of children’s literature through her academic research, work as a reviewer and as a founding member of the Children’s Literature Association.
The award is given annually by Storylines for outstanding service to children’s literature and literacy and carries a monetary prize of $2000. The recipient delivers a 40-minute address, known as the Storylines Spring Lecture, as part of the award presentation. This is planned to be held in Auckland in late November 2020.
Previous winners have included children’s literature advocates Eve Sutton, Elsie Locke and Dorothy Butler, the late distinguished literary agent Ray Richards, Te Kahurangi (Dame) Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira and leading publishers, academics, librarians and booksellers.
The award was most recently won by highly regarded children and young adult book reviewer, book awards judge and librarian Crissi Blair in 2019; librarian and tireless reading advocate Jeannie Skinner from Whangarei in 2018; and Maureen Crisp, writer, teacher, literary blogger and book awards judge, from Wellington in 2017.