Scholastic New Zealand Award
for Best Children’s Book 2026
Finalist
Designer: Vida Kelly (Vida and Luke Kelly Design), with Toby Morris
Title: Pūkeko Who-keko?
Publisher:Penguin Random House New Zealand
Format: 270 x 245 mm, 32pp, paperback, perfect bound, section sewn.
Cover: 350gsm 1-sided coated artcard with120mm gatefold flaps; matt lamination with spot gloss; inside cover PMS 338u
Text: 120gsm woodfree
Typography: Kavivanar Regular 26/36 pt. The answers to the clues are in 32 pt.
Title type hand lettered by Toby Morris.
Publisher’s Brief:
“To design a bright, contemporary and beautifully specced picture book with a delightful visual and verbal play on words rhyming with pūkeko.
The text to be arranged in Q and A form for children in that stage of learning how to tell jokes, with the rhyme for pūkeko helping readers to anticipate the answer, while the illustrations weave the jokes together with a loose narrative throughout. The type design should reflect the text’s escalating levels of absurdity.”
Judges’ Comments:
“Such fun and bold illustrations used for this excellent rhyming story. The elongated typography styles cleverly echo the tall, slender proportions of the pūkeko. It is nice to have the illustrated detective story running alongside the text. The combination of modern digital gradients with hand-drawn crayon textures creates a distinctive visual style, and the playful use of scale and proportion keeps the illustrations dynamic and engaging. The striking spot UV finish on the cover creates a memorable first impression.”
