NZPost ends sponsorship of NZ Book Awards

I have fond memories of the evening the totally unexpected happened, and the judges pronounced Tupaia as the winner of the general non-fiction category of the NZ Post Book Awards.

As we all know, all over the "developed" bits of the world the internet is killing traditional mail deliveries. Every mailed statement arrives these days with an invitation to opt for "electronic" statements -- saving trees and paper and so forth, or so they say, the real reason being that it saves the company postage fees.  And so a service that brightened or depressed the day for millions is rapidly disappearing.

And so, as the National Business Review reports, NZ Post can no longer afford to sponsor the New Zealand book awards. It's a huge pity, but understandable.

For a wryly amusing comment on this, see Stephen Stratford's blog Quote Unquote -- though you might only find it funny if you are a Kiwi writer or historian.