The organization of the Ockham Awards, New Zealand’s highest literary prize, has disqualified Elizabeth Smither and Stephanie Johnson, two of the country’s leading authors, for using artificial intelligence on the covers of books they entered into the competition. The publisher Quentin Wilson Publishing confirmed to Efe this Wednesday that the works Train of angels by Smither, e Obligate carnivore, by Johnson, were excluded from the competition after a bookseller suspected the use of artificial intelligence in the illustrations and reported it to the organizers. The editorial team confirmed the use of the technological tool in the design processes of these covers.
The chair of the Literary Awards Committee, Nicola Legat, reiterated its firm position on the use of artificial intelligence in books: “The foundation 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 prize.” Both Smither and Johnson have served on the award jury in previous editions. Legat explained that the AI rules were born out of a desire to support the creative and copyright interests of the country’s writers and illustrators.
The literary award, endowed with 65,000 New Zealand dollars (31,700 euros), applies the new rules on artificial intelligence for the first time. The rules say that books with AI-generated elements on the covers cannot be chosen for the prize. However, the publisher said the rules were published in August, “too late for any publisher to change their orders,” and that changes of this magnitude are usually announced a year in advance.
In a statement, Smither said he felt sorry for the cover designers: “They are the ones who worry me the most: that their meticulous work… is not respected.” Johnson said he would Caretaker who is sad about the decision, but who shares the organization’s concern about the use of artificial intelligence. “Instead of talking about my book… and what the inspiration was, we’re talking about the damn artificial intelligence, which I hate,” he complained.
The publisher said that what happened highlights the “urgent need” to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in the sector, since these types of tools are used in everyday practice, for example, in Photoshop or the text editor Grammarly.
“It breaks our hearts that two works of fiction by such respected authors would end up caught in an issue that doesn’t impact their writing,” the publisher clarified, and defended the production and design team’s work incorporating AI into its creative process, but “it doesn’t replace our creativity, but is a natural extension of our art.”
About the authors
Elizabeth Smither – author of poetry, short stories and novels – is a member of the New Zealand Academy of Literature. She was named New Zealand’s Poet Laureate for three years (2001-2003) and received the Prime Minister’s Literary Lifetime Achievement Award for poetry in 2008, as well as winning the New Zealand Book Awards Poetry Prize in 1990 and the New Zealand Montana Poetry Prize in 2000.
Stephanie Johnson is also a member of the New Zealand Academy of Literature, thanks to her work in fiction, poetry, short stories and even theatre, television and radio. She received the Prime Minister’s Literary Award in 2022 and in 2019 was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her contribution to literature.
