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Awards

Here you find details of the many book award organisations. Clicking on the links will take you to their individual websites where you can view details of past and present winners.

UK BOOK AWARDS

Children’s Laureate: The appointment of a Children's Laureate recognises and highlights the importance of exceptional children's authors in creating the readers of tomorrow. Previous Children’s Laureates have included Anne Fine, Michael Rosen, Anthony Browne, Quentin Blake, Jaqueline Wilson, Michael Morpurgo (War Horse) and Julia Donaldson (The Gruffalo). The current Children’s Laureate is Cressida Cowell (How to Train Your Dragon). For more information and details of winners, please click here: Children’s Laureate

The Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize was set up in 2005 to celebrate exciting new or not yet established authors of children's books. It is unique in that booksellers and children select the shortlist and ultimate winner from books not yet published. Waterstones’s Children’s Book Prize

The Sheffield Children’s Book Award began in 1988. Another award where children participate in selecting the winners; the project was initiated to increase children’s knowledge an access to the very best children’s literature. This aim has been achieved and surpassed year by year with new initiatives and ideas incorporated along the way. Each school selects the most appropriate Book Category for the class and receives a start up pack of ideas along with a collection of books to read and review. Each child is asked to vote for their favourite title and these votes are then collated over the summer. Results are kept a closely guarded secret until the Award Ceremony in November. The Event has grown in size and quality each year and is now recognised as a major Children’s Book Award in the literary world. Sheffield Book Award

Grampian Children's Book Award chosen by students from schools in the Aberdeenshire region of Scotland. Pupils taking part chose a short list from a list of nominations, which they then read and review before voting for their favourite. Grampian Children's Book Award

The Wirral Paperback Of The Year has been running since 1995 with pupils from up to 19 Wirral (a district within the UK) Secondary Schools taking part. The Paperback of the Year was started to give young people from Years 8 and 9 the chance to read widely and to have their voices heard by choosing their favourite book. Twenty titles, first published in paperback in the previous twelve months are chosen by the Schools' Library Service (this is also a useful list for buying new books for the school library). A short-list is then chosen from these twenty titles by each school by vote or discussion. Representatives from each school discuss the short-list at a meeting in July and vote for their favourite book. The winning author is invited to Wirral to meet and talk to pupils who have chosen their book. For more details and winners, click here: Wirral Paperback

Angus Book Award Every year third year pupils from Angus (a part of Scotland) secondary schools decide who wins the Angus Book Award. They vote for their favourite book from a shortlist of five new paperback novels for teenagers written by UK authors. Each year the reaction of pupils to the announcement of the winner demonstrates that the Angus Book Award has been successful in raising the profile of books, reading and writing. Teenagers clapping, stamping and cheering the choice of a book shows that empowering pupils works. As winner of the Angus Book Award 2005, Terence Blacker said, "It's a truly amazing event. It buzzes with life, energy and humour, and is one of the most enjoyable celebrations of writing and reading that I have ever experienced." For more information and details of current and past winners, please click here: Angus Book Award

The Blue Peter Book Award is run by the BBC (British Broadcasting Company). The shortlist of books is judged from children at a select number of UK schools. For more details and winners, click here: Blue Peter

Booktrust is an independent national charity that encourages people of all ages and cultures to discover and enjoy reading. It offers several prizes: For details click here: Booktrust Prizes

  • The Booktrust Teenage Prize which was launched in 2003 to recognise and celebrate contemporary fiction written for teenagers.
  • Early Years Award Supported by Bookstart and the Unwin Foundation, the Booktrust Early Years Awards celebrate, publicise and reward the exciting range of books being published today for babies, toddlers and pre-school children under the categories listed below.
    • The best book for babies under one year old
    • The best book for pre-school children, up to five years of age
    • An award for the best new illustrator

Stockport Book Award The purpose of this Book Award is to raise the profile of reading for pleasure and to create a community of readers in schools across Stockport. For more details and winners, click here: Stockport Book Awards

The Brandford Boase Award is awarded annually for the most promising first novel to a first-time writer of a book for young people. At the same time, it marks the important contribution of the editor in identifying and nurturing new talent. The Branford Boase Award was set up in memory of the outstanding children’s writer Henrietta Branford and the gifted editor, Wendy Boase, Editorial Director of Walker Books. They worked together on a number of books, a partnership they greatly enjoyed. For more information and details of current and past winners, please click here: Brandford Boase Award

The Carnegie Medal is awarded by a panel of librarians for an outstanding book for children. Established in 1836, it is Britain's oldest children's book award. It was established by The Library Association in memory of the great Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Carnegie was a self-made industrialist who made his fortune in steel in the USA. His experience of using a library as a child led him to resolve that "if ever wealth came to me that it should be used to establish free libraries." The medal is now awarded by CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, which is a new organisation formed by the Unification of the Institute of Information Scientists and The Library Association on 1 April 2002. For more information, please click here: Carnegie Medal

The Kate Greenaway Medal was established by The Library Association in 1955, for distinguished illustration in a book for children. It is named after the popular nineteenth century artist known for her fine children's illustrations and designs. The medal is now awarded by CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, which is a new organisation formed by the Unification of the Institute of Information Scientists and The Library Association on 1 April 2002. For more information, please click here: Kate Greenaway Medal

Whitbread Children’s Book Awards (now known as COSTA Book Awards) The Whitbread has five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children's Book. For each category there are three judges – generally an author, a bookseller and a journalist. They select a shortlist of four books, which includes the winner. Their criteria are to select well-written, enjoyable books that they would strongly recommend anyone to read. A nine-member judging panel, which includes the author from each of the original category judging panel together with a Chairman and three other people in the public eye who love reading, selects one book from these five as overall Whitbread Book of the Year. For more information and details of current and past winners, please click here: Costa Children’s Book Awards

Guardian Book Awards Founded in 1967, the prize has a tradition of finding new voices in children's fiction. For more details and winners, click here: Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize

U.S. BOOK AWARDS

The Caldecott Medal was named in honour of the nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. For more details and winners, click here: Caldecott Medal

The Newbery Medal was named after eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. For more details and winners, click here: Newbery Medal