New Zealand’s rarest parrot stars in book award

New Zealand’s rarest parrot stars in award winning popular science book

New Zealand’s rarest parrot, the kakapo, is the engaging subject of the winning book for the Royal Society of New Zealand’s 2011 Science Book Prize, announced tonight in Auckland.

The book, ‘Kakapo – Rescued from the Brink of Extinction’, was written by broadcaster and zoologist Alison Ballance and published by Nelson based Craig Potton Publishing.

It tells the story of how one of New Zealand’s most charismatic but endangered birds was saved from possible extinction through the efforts of a dedicated group of people. The author has been involved in the kakapo conservation programme since 1994.

The 2011 Science Book Prize was judged by science and literature experts from three New Zealand universities and selected from a shortlist of three titles. Alison Ballance receives a prize of $5000 for her winning book.

The judges described the book as being written with ‘clarity and humour’. “Along the way, each bird becomes a character in his or her saga, so the reader rejoices with the hatching of every egg and is saddened by the passing of every old kakapo.”

The Royal Society of New Zealand, our national science academy, established the prize for popular science books in 2009 to celebrate the very best in this genre. It aims to encourage the writing, publishing and reading of good and accessible popular science books.

Chief Executive of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Dr Di McCarthy, said the standard of books submitted for the award was outstanding and the winning book would be a wonderful addition to home libraries.

“This book shows how New Zealand’s science efforts can be written about in a way which is very engaging for the general reader. We hope more authors will take on the challenge of writing about science as there is a wealth of stories waiting to be told.”

Barbara Strauch, science editor for the New York Times, announced the winner at an event in Auckland as part of the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival.

ENDS

Full text of judges’ comments on the winning book:

“In ‘Kakapo – Rescued from the brink of extinction’, Alison Ballance captures the passion of the relatively small number of brave, altruistic scientists and wildlife advocates, who set about trying to understand, and save from extinction, possibly the world’s most endearing bird.

“She describes how biologists struggled to increase the kakapo numbers when the bird was poised on the edge of the precipice of extinction, and the path to understanding the crucial link between kakapo reproduction and levels of nutrition is told with clarity and humour. Along the way, each bird becomes a character in his or her saga, so the reader rejoices with the hatching of every egg and is saddened by the passing of every old kakapo.

“This book is also a tribute to the life and work of the late Don Merton, an innovative field biologist who showed us that, with hard work and imagination, miracles can happen. Alongside illustrations that reflect a great sense of image developed during Alison's work as a filmmaker, Alison’s stories describe cutting edge science in the wilderness in a style that makes the book engrossing reading, and a pleasure as well simply to dip into or leaf through.”

About Alison Ballance:
Alison Ballance is a zoologist, award-winning wildlife film-maker, natural history writer and passionate story-teller. She worked as a documentary film-maker and writer from 1990 to 2008, and currently works for Radio New Zealand National in Wellington as co-producer and co-presenter of the weekly one-hour science and environment programme ‘Our Changing World’. She has produced more than 16 television documentaries, written 27 books, and recorded and presented about 140 radio stories.

Alison has been involved with the kakapo conservation programme since 1994. She produced a TV documentary on the subject, ‘To Save the Kakapo’, in 1998, and has written two books that cover aspects of the kakapo story: Hoki: The story of a kakapo (1997), and Don Merton: The man who saved the black robin (2007).

NOTES:

The award announcement takes place at approximately 6.30pm, Friday 13 May 2011, at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival at the ASB Theatre in the Aotea Centre. The winner will not know until then so must not be contacted beforehand.

The Science Book Prize judges were Professor Michael Corballis, The University of Auckland, Professor Jean Fleming, University of Otago, and Dr Bryan Walpert, Massey University.

The two other shortlisted books were Poles Apart: Beyond the Shouting, Who is Right about Climate Change? by Gareth Morgan and John McCrystal (Random House); and North Pole South Pole: The Epic Quest to Solve the Great Mystery of Earth’s Magnetism by Gillian Turner (Awa Press).

Background information: The Royal Society of New Zealand promotes science, technology and the humanities in schools, in industry and in society. We administer funds for science and technology, publish science journals, offer advice to Government, and foster international scientific contact and co-operation. www.royalsociety.org.nz

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