[Source: Supplied]

“Cries from the Moana,” an illustrated children’s book about the dangers of seabed mining in the Pacific Ocean, has won international recognition by receiving the 2024 UK Rubery Award.

The book is a collaborative effort by a Fiji-Pacific Island family spanning three generations.

Written by Tongan-born ‘Atu Emberson-Bain, with her two adult sons with the late Stephen Vete, Siale and Melino Bain-Vete, the book is illustrated by their daughter artist Anga’aefonu (Fonu) Bain-Vete, with contributions to the artwork from two of their grandchildren, Tahi and Mahina Bain-Vete, seven and six years respectively.

The 2024 UK Rubery Award is a prestigious international book award for self-published authors and independent presses, often considered on par with the MAN Booker and Costa Prizes.

The top prize of $5,800 is awarded to the Book of the Year, which is selected from a final round of judging all category winners: fiction, poetry, short fiction, non-fiction, and children/young adults.

Winner of both the Children and Young Adult Category and Book of the Year Award for 2024, Cries from the Moana is a 122-page story set in the village of Haumana on the mythical island of Tungia in the Pacific.

Enhanced by a treasure trove of over 100 illustrations, the book offers a glimpse of the fascinating and little-known world of the deep ocean and seabed.

In addition to the two Rubery prizes, Cries from the Moana has won a bronze medal for regional fiction (Australia/New Zealand/Pacific Rim) in the 2024 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY); a silver medal for illustrations in the 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards; and a gold medal for middle grade fiction (Grades 4–7) in the 2024 Nautilus Book Awards.

The book has been selected for Class 6 students at International School Suva in 2024.