The books of two award-winning New Zealand authors have been disqualified from consideration for the nation’s top literature prize because artificial intelligence (AI) was used in the creation of their cover designs.
Stephanie Johnson’s collection of short stories Obligate Carnivore and Elizabeth Smither’s collection of novellas Angel Train were submitted to the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards’ NZ$65,000 (US$36,825) last month, but were ruled out of the competition the following month in light of new guidelines around AI use.
Quentin Wilson, the publisher of both books, said the awards committee amended the guidelines in August, by which time the covers of every book submitted for the awards would have already been designed.
“It was, therefore, far too late for any publisher to have taken this clause into account in their design briefs,” Wilson told the Guardian.
“It is obviously heartbreaking that two wonderful pieces of fiction by highly respected authors have become embroiled in this issue, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with their writing,” he said.
Wilson said it was also upsetting for the production and design team, who had worked hard on the books.
Johnson was sympathetic to the award organizers, saying she, too, is deeply concerned about the use of AI in creative fields, but was disappointed with the decision.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sad about it,” she told the Guardian. “It’s my 22nd book, and it is my fourth collection of short stories. These stories … were written over a sort of 20 year period, so for me, it’s quite an important book.”
Johnson said authors typically have very little to do with the design of their books, and she had no idea AI had been used to create her cover, which features a cat with human teeth.
“I just thought it was a photograph of a real cat and the teeth had been superimposed, but apparently it wasn’t,” Johnson said, adding that unlike younger generations who are adept at identifying AI, she had trouble distinguishing images created with the technology.
Johnson worried people would now assume she had used AI to write her book, which she “most certainly did not.”
“Instead of talking about my book … and what the inspiration was, we are talking about bloody AI, which I hate,” she said.
In a statement, Smither said the designers spent hours working on the cover of her book, which features a steam train and an angel “half-obscured in the smoke,” inspired by artist Marc Chagall’s figures.
“It is them I am most concerned about: that their meticulous work … is being disrespected,” Smither said.
Both Smither and Johnson have previously judged categories of the Ockham awards, and both said the covers were given very little consideration.
“The contents and the close reading were everything,” Smither said.
Nicola Legat, the chair of the book awards trust, which administers the Ockham awards, said the trust takes a “firm stance on the use of AI in books.”
“The trust does not take lightly a decision that prevents the latest works of two of New Zealand’s most esteemed writers from being considered for the 2026 award,” Legat said.
“However, the criteria apply to all entrants, regardless of their mana [status], and must be consistently applied to all.”
The decision to amend the criteria around AI was spurred by a desire to support creative and copyright interests of the country’s writers and illustrators, she said.
“As AI evolves, there may well be a need for the trust to revisit and develop the criteria further,” she said.
Wilson said publishers and authors regularly use Grammarly and Photoshop, which draw on AI, and the situation highlighted an urgent need for carefully developed guidelines.
“As an industry, we must work together to ensure that this situation does not happen again.”
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