Children's picture book Sea Country has been recognised as literary excellence as part of the 2022 Tasmanian Literary Awards, receiving Minister for the Arts' Prize for Books for Young Readers and Children – People's Choice Award.

Written by Tasmanian Elder and author Aunty Patsy Cameron and illustrated by Indigenous artist Lisa Kennedy, Sea Country shares the stories and traditions from Aunty Patsy's family's seasonal island life in Tasmania.

Aunty Patsy said after personally receiving a large amount of positive feedback about Sea Country, she felt humbled with the text's popularity.

"I've had so many people make contact with me," she said.

"It's really quite beautiful, that people went to the bother of actually voting for Sea Country as the people's choice."

The text explains to young readers when wild Tasmanian cherries are ripe to be picked on Flinders Island, when mutton birds return home to the Furneaux Islands and how nautilus shells smell like the depths of the ocean.

A descendent of Tasmania's Pairebeenne Trawlwoolway clan, Aunty Patsy has also included stories within Sea Country about traditional Indigenous practises such as collecting shells to make necklaces, fishing in wooden dinghies with long oars and watching clouds snake their way down Cape Barren Island's Mt Munro.

She said Sea Country is based on her early upbringing on Tasmania's Flinders Island.

"It's a time between when I was at an age between four and seven, showing those very early years of living on Flinders island and spending my childhood playing it on the beach and along the coast in front of where I lived, in front of my home," Aunty Patsy said.

Although recounting Aunty Patsy's early years, she said the book has been well received by readers of all ages.

"It's really aimed at primary school children," she said.

"Although I've had people say to me that it's for children from birth to 99.

"So even people in their older age enjoy reading it to their children and grandchildren, but also enjoy the story themselves."

Complimenting Aunty Patsy's words, illustrator Lisa Kennedy shares her love and connection to sea and Country through intricate collages and delicate images that bring Country to life.

Also a descendant of the coastal Pairebeenne Trawlwoolway clan from north-east Tasmania, Ms Kennedy carries a deep love of sea and Country that she portrays through colourful illustrations depicting the vibrant sea Country that surrounds Flinders Island.

Aunty Patsy said after meeting Ms Kennedy quite a few years ago and discussing her being the illustrator through publisher Magabala Books, her artwork perfectly compliments the story of her childhood.

"I think they are just amazing," Aunty Patsy said.

"The amount of information that she has included goes far beyond the story."

Aunty Patsy said Ms Kennedy's visual imagery portraying her ancestors encapsulates her family's connection to their home Country.

"I just love the way the first page of the book shows the ancestors looking from the past into the future at children," Aunty Patsy said.

"Myself and my sister and my brothers playing on the beaches as young children and having them there watching us is quite beautiful.

"It reminds us of where we come from and who we belong to."

Inspired to write Sea Country after an upbringing of living on a remote island, Aunty Patsy said there is an additional message in the story of the text.

"I think the idea of how important see country is to our survival, not only as Indigenous people, but also the survival of our planet," she said.

"It's important for children to understand that what's in the sea is it's just the same as what's on the land.

"It's the vegetation and the and the animals and the fishes that lives in the sea need to be treated with care and and looked after like, like we do, or we try to on the land."