Launched in 2019, the Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize is one of New Zealand’s leading illustration prizes with over 1600 entries since its inception. 2024 winner Herb MacDonald’s fresh and fabulous take on Margaret Mahy’s classic The Great White Man Eating Shark (illustrations seen here) will be published in August this year.

The Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize creates a unique opportunity for an unpublished New Zealand-based artist to illustrate Mahy’s work and we are thrilled to announce that the 2025 title is the much-loved swashbuckling classic The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate. Originally published in 1972, this timeless tale is a hilarious pirate story and an ode to the sea.

Bridget Mahy, manager of the Mahy Estate says “Margaret lived next to the restless swell of the Pacific Ocean. She keenly observed the daily moods of a vast body of water that stretched out to meet the sky. Adventures abounded on the seas of Margaret’s imagination; she set her characters free from the confines of a relentlessly mundane job, allowing them to discover their true, spirited selves by singing, dancing, and sailing away on an ocean of possibility.

Working with the Margaret Mahy Estate, Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand and Little Moa will award a $2000 cash prize, a $500 library of books and the
opportunity for this project to be developed into a published picture book.

The Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize was launched in 2019 to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Mahy’s children’s picture book classic, A Lion in the Meadow. It has since become one of New Zealand’s leading illustration prizes, paving the way for ten emerging artists to have their illustrations published by Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand and Little Moa.

IMPORTANT DATES TO NOTE
Launch date Monday 24^th March 2025
Entries close Thursday 24 July 2025
Finalists announced Thursday 21 August 2025 at 12pm
Winner announced Thursday 28 August 2025 at 12pm

Terms & conditions at www.TheMargaretMahyIllustrationPrize.co.nz