The Gaelyn Gordon Award is awarded annually by the Children's Literature Foundation (now called the Storylines Children's Literature Foundation) to a well-loved work of New Zealand children's fiction.
This award is named after Gaelyn Gordon (1939-1997) who was born in HÃÂwera and taught English and Drama at Hamilton Girls' High School. She published her first children's book in 1989 and wrote many more books for both children and adults until her death from cancer in 1997. Her books were popular but won no major awards during her lifetime.
The Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book was established by the Children's Literature Foundation in 1998 to honour her memory and mark her contribution to New Zealand children's literature. It was set up with the help of her three publishers HarperCollins, Scholastic and David Ling Publishing. In 2005, the Children's Literature Foundation was renamed the Storylines Children's Literature Foundation, and the award is now known as the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award.