Annual awards were presented for literary merit in fiction, non-fiction, poetry and (later) book production.
[2] In 1994 and 1995, the Montana Book Awards included a category for poetry.
[3] In 1996, the two awards events were merged to create the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and offering prizes in six categories, including poetry.
In 2010, the New Zealand Post took over as sponsor, having supported the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for the previous 14 years.
[4][5][2] In 2015, Auckland property development firm Ockham Residential assumed sponsorship of the awards.