We are so excited to share the news that Raymaŋgirrbuy dhäwu, When I was a little girl by Kylie Gatjawarrawuy Mununggurr has won the Children’s/Young Adult category in the 2026 NT Book Awards run by the NT Writers' Centre.

Kylie is thrilled that her book has won the award saying:

“I am really excited that this story and my pictures are being shared all around Australia. I would like to thank all the people who helped me share this story and our language to make it real. Thank you to Magabala Books and Margaret Whiskin, Trevor and Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts, ARDS for the translation, NT Writers’ Centre, the judges and the NT Book Awards.”

The book is a sweetly told story of the author’s experiences with her grandmother. From watching her grinding ochre and painting in the shade of a tree, to hunting for bush honey (guku) and painting ceremonial guku designs on their bodies (special permission was given to Kylie to paint this), to full-moon night fishing and cooking up a fish feast on the beach.

The winners were announced on Wednesday 23 September at the NT Writing Awards, an exciting new event on the NT literary calendar, bringing together the NT History Book Awards and NT Book Awards for the first time.

Winners each received a $10,000 Arts NT Fellowship to further develop their skills, talents and new works. 

You can view the full list of winners here.

About the creator
Kylie was born in Darwin and moved to Gapuwiyak with her mother where she started school.  When a school opened on her grandmother’s country Raymaŋgirr Kylie went to school there. The language of Raymaŋgirr is Marraŋu but this story is told in Djambarrpuyŋu because everyone understands Djambarrpuyŋu in North-east Arnhem Land, although there are many other languages.