The Samoan New Zealand writer and former poet-laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh is the supreme winner of the 2020 New Zealand children's book awards.
Selina Tusitala Marsh Photo: Hayley Theyers and Phantom Billstickers
Ms Tusitala Marsh said the win legitimised Pacific stories in mainstream children's literature.
Mophead is an autobiographical account of growing up as a self-conscious Pasifika kid in Aotearoa.
The book is part graphic novel, part picture book meets memoir and poetry.
One judge said it was "perfect" and a taonga that should be in the hands of every child in Aotearoa.
Another described it as "clever, joyful and inspiring, with not a smidgen of pretension or condescension."
Tusitala Marsh said she was both humbled and elated.
"I had principals of schools ringing me and saying 'you know there's one book the kids cross the pedestrian with and they've got Mophead clutched under their arms' and I'm like what, where... I'm so humbled but it just shows our kids are really hungry to see themselves in the pages," Tusitala Marsh said.
Along with the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year supreme award, Selina Tusitala Marsh also won the Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction. Each award came with $NZ7500 prize money.
The Russell Clark Award for Illustration went to The Adventures of Tupaia, the account of the Ra'iatea (French Polynesia) noble who navigated and translated for James Cook in the Pacific. It was illustrated by Mat Tait and written by Courtney Sina Meredith.