2026 Aotearoa Children's Music Awards | Ngā Manu Tīrairaka entries open

Children’s music creators! We are excited to open entries for the 2026 Aotearoa Children’s Music Awards | Ngā Manu Tīrairaka. If you released a song, video, or album between 1 Jan 2025 – 31 Dec 2025 you could be eligible to enter! Read more below.

The awards will be held at the Tuning Fork, Spark Arena, on Sunday 28 June - save the date!

In 2024 we were excited to introduce two subcategories for the APRA Best Children’s Song Award | Waiata Tamariki Toa that allows songs to be judged based on the song’s target age group – Preschool or Primary. This means there will be two winners, one for each sub-category. Each song may only be entered in one of these sub-categories (not both).

• APRA Best Children’s Song | Waiata Tamariki Toa
  • Preschool – He Manu Pīpī
  • Primary – He Pī Ka Rere

As usual we also welcome entries for NZ On Air Best Children’s Music Video | He Manu Tūtei, while entries for Recorded Music NZ Te Manu Taki Kerekahu o te Tau | Best Children's Artist are also now open.

Links to all entry forms can be found below including all eligibility criteria. Entries for all awards close 5pm Monday 16 March.

There is also an additional category running for the third time: the Kōkako Award for Best Children's Performance. This is a collaboration between Kiwi Kids Music, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and NZ Opera, and serves to highlight the wonderful performances from the tamariki of Aotearoa. Information and entry forms can be found here: Kōkako Award - Auckland Philharmonia

The Aotearoa Children’s Music Awards champion the music of our home-grown songwriting heroes – the wildly varied assortment of creators that write music for our youngest music fans.

Have a question? Get in touch with our team at: [email protected]

Brought to you by APRA AMCOS NZ, Recorded Music NZ, NZ On Air, and Suzy Cato.