To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:

MARSHALL, Ms Julia May

For services to children’s literature

Ms Julia Marshall has contributed to literature community for a number of years.

Ms Marshall is the founder of Gecko Press, a small New Zealand publishing company established in 2005 which translates and publishes carefully selected children’s books from some of the best authors and illustrators in the world, ensuring New Zealand children are exposed to stories from different cultures. Each year it publishes a top selling book in te reo Māori. Engaging local authors and illustrators, she has encouraged all those involved in a book’s production to work together. She has received numerous awards including New Zealand Thorpe-Bowker Publisher of the Year 2008, Winner Creative Gold Wellington Regional Business Gold Awards 2010, 2013 Best Children’s Publisher of the Year in Oceania at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, 2017 Publisher of the Year at the New Zealand Book Industry Awards, and the Margaret Mahy Medal in 2021. She has served the Publishers Association of New Zealand as President and been on the Board of READ NZ Te Pou Muramura. Ms Marshall is well regarded by her peers for her advocacy for every child’s right to love reading.

To be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit:

ROUT, Mrs Morrin Jackson

For services to the arts, particularly literature

Mrs Morrin Rout has contributed to the Christchurch arts and literature communities for more than 30 years.

Mrs Rout was a Broadcaster on Plains FM – Women on Air from 1994 to 2014 and Plains FM – Bookenz from 1994 until the present. She was a co-presenter and producer of ‘Bookmarks’ on Radio New Zealand from 1997 to 2005. During her broadcasting career she has conducted book reviews and interviews with both New Zealand and international authors and championed emerging and established writers, poets and playwrights. She was involved with the Christchurch Writers Festival from its inception in 1997 until 2012 as a co-programme director, establishing networks with similar international organisations. She helped to establish the Hagley Writers’ Institute, a part-time creative writing course for adults at Hagley College in Christchurch and worked as the Director from 2007 to 2020. In 2007 and 2008 she was a Judge for the Montana Book Awards. She has been on the Literary Assessment panel for Creative New Zealand and a Member of the Assessment Panel for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. In addition, Mrs Rout was a founding member of the Lombardy Trust which ran a biennial ‘Sculpture on the Peninsula’ festival for 20 years to raise money for the Cholmondeley Children’s Home.