Authors have been banned from New Zealand’s top book prize after AI was used in cover design

Two award-winning New Zealand authors’ books have been excluded from consideration for the country’s top literary prize because their cover designs used artificial intelligence.

Stephanie Johnson’s short story collection Obligate Carnivore and Elizabeth Smither’s novella collection Angel Train were entered for the NZ$65,000 fiction prize at the 2026 Ockham Book Awards in October, but were eliminated from the competition the following month due to new guidelines on the use of AI.

The editor of both books, Quentin Wilson, said the prize committee changed the guidelines in August because by then the covers of all books submitted for the prizes had already been designed.

“It was therefore far too late for a publisher to consider this clause in their design briefs,” Wilson told the Guardian.

“It is obviously heartbreaking that two wonderful novels by highly respected authors should become entangled…