The Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry is an award at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, presented annually to the winner of the poetry category. The winner receives a NZ$10,000 prize.

History

The New Zealand Book Awards were set up by the New Zealand Literary Fund, a government organisation, in 1976. Annual awards were presented for literary merit in fiction, non-fiction, poetry and (later) book production. The Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards, New Zealand's other principal literary awards event, did not specifically award poetry prizes until 1994, when sponsorship was taken over by Montana Wines and the event's name was changed to the Montana Book Awards. In 1994 and 1995, the Montana Book Awards included a category for poetry. In 1996, the two awards events were merged to create the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and offering prizes in six categories, including poetry. In 2010, the New Zealand Post took over as sponsor, having supported the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for the previous 14 years. In 2015, Auckland property development firm Ockham Residential assumed sponsorship of the awards. No prizes were presented in that year. The Poetry Award was presented from 2016 to 2019. In 2020, the name of the award was changed to the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry.

Winners of the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry, 2020–present

Winners of the Ockham New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, 2016–2019

Winners of the New Zealand Post Book Award for Poetry, 2010–2014

Winners of the Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, 1996–2009

Winners of the Montana Book Award for Poetry, 1994–1995

Winners of the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, 1976–1995