![]() | Parts of this article (those related to refs and winners list) need to be updated. The reason given is: links to old website of RHCBA; no winners added since 2017.(January 2024) |
The Children's Book Award is a British literary award for children's books, run by the Federation of Children's Book Groups and previously known as the Red House Children's Book Award. Books published in the U.K. during the preceding calendar year are eligible. It recognises one "Overall" winner and one book in each of three categories: Books for Younger Children, Books for Younger Readers, and Books for Older Readers. [lower-alpha 1] The selections are made entirely by children, which is unique among British literary awards. [1]
The Federation of Children's Book Groups owns and coordinates the Award, which it inaugurated in 1981 as the Children's Book Award. Its purpose has been "to celebrate the books that children themselves love reading." [1] From 2001 to 2015 it was sponsored by the mail order bookshop Red House, [1] a brand owned by bookselling company The Book People.
The 2017 Overall Winner was from the Books for Younger Readers category and was won by Michael Morpurgo and illustrator Michael Foreman for An Eagle in the Snow, published by HarperCollins. [2] The 2017 winners were announced at an Award Ceremony held in London on Saturday 10 June 2017.
The 2016 Overall Winner was from the Books for Younger Readers category and was won by Pamela Butchart and illustrator Thomas Flintham with My Head Teacher is a Vampire Rat, published by Nosy Crow.
The 2015 Overall Winner was from the Books for Younger Children and was announced at the Imagine Festival in February. The Winners were Oliver Jeffeys and Drew Daywalt with The Day the Crayons Quit published by HarperCollins.
The 2014 Overall winner was from the Older Readers category, announced in mid-February 2014: The 5th Wave , written by Rick Yancey and published by Penguin Books. [3]
Winners are determined by the votes of children on three category ballots composed by nominations from the same group. "Children from around the world" are eligible to participate in both stages. [4] At least in Britain, many children participate through book groups. [5]
The three ballots, or shortlists, comprise those ten books that garner the most nominations. [6] There are four books on the Younger Children ballot and three each on the Younger Readers and Older Readers ballots. [7]
Currently the annual awards cover books first published in the U.K. during the calendar year.
From 1992 to 2017 —the period of one Overall and three category awards [lower-alpha 1] — 13 Overall winners have come from the Long Novel or Older Readers category, 76 from the Short Novel or Younger Readers category, 4 from the Picture Book or Younger Children category. [8]
Year | Author | Title | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | Quentin Blake | Mister Magnolia | Jonathan Cape |
1982 | Leon Garfield | Fair's Fair | Macdonald Young Books |
1983 | Roald Dahl , illus. by Quentin Blake | The BFG | Jonathan Cape |
1984 | Terry Jones , illus. by Michael Foreman | The Saga of Erik the Viking | Pavilion |
1985 | Robert Swindells | Brother in the Land | Oxford University Press |
1986 | Amanda Graham | Arthur | Spindlewood |
1987 | Janet and Allan Ahlberg | The Jolly Postman | Heinemann |
1988 | Valerie Thomas, illus. by Korky Paul | Winnie the Witch | Oxford University Press |
1989 | Roald Dahl , illus. by Quentin Blake | Matilda | Jonathan Cape |
Year | Category | Author | Title | Publisher | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | Overall | Suzanne Collins | The Hunger Games | Scholastic | |
Younger Children | Jeanne Willis , illus. by Adam Stower | Bottoms Up! | Puffin | ||
Younger Readers | Tanya Landman | Mondays are Murder | Walker Books | ||
Older Readers | Suzanne Collins | The Hunger Games | Scholastic | ||
2011 | Overall | Michael Morpurgo | Shadow | HarperCollins | |
Younger Children | Angela McAllister , illus. by Alison Edgson | Yuck! That's not a Monster! | Little Tiger Press | ||
Younger Readers | Michael Morpurgo | Shadow | HarperCollins | ||
Older Readers | Alex Scarrow | Time Riders | Penguin | ||
2012 | Overall | Patrick Ness and Jim Kay | A Monster Calls | Walker Books | [5] [11] |
Younger Children | Chris Wormell | Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice | Jonathan Cape | [5] [11] | |
Younger Readers | Liz Pichon | The Brilliant World of Tom Gates | Scholastic | [5] [11] | |
Older Readers | Patrick Ness and Jim Kay | A Monster Calls | Walker Books | [5] [11] | |
2013 | Overall | Andrew Weale , illus. by Lee Wildish | The Spooky Spooky House | Corgi | |
Younger Children | Andrew Weale , illus. by Lee Wildish | The Spooky Spooky House | Corgi | ||
Younger Readers | David Walliams , illus. by Tony Ross | Gangsta Granny | HarperCollins | ||
Older Readers | Sophie McKenzie | The Medusa Project: Hit Squad | Simon & Schuster | ||
2014 | Overall | Rick Yancey | The 5th Wave | Penguin | [12] |
Younger Children | Julia Donaldson , illus. by Axel Scheffler | Superworm | Scholastic | [12] | |
Younger Readers | Jennifer Gray | Atticus Claw Breaks the Law | Faber | [12] | |
Older Readers | Rick Yancey | The 5th Wave | Penguin | [12] | |
2015 | Overall | Drew Daywalt , illus. by Oliver Jeffers | The Day the Crayons Quit | HarperCollins | [13] [14] |
Younger Children | Drew Daywalt , illus. by Oliver Jeffers | The Day the Crayons Quit | HarperCollins | [13] | |
Younger Readers | David Walliams | Demon Dentist | HarperCollins | [13] | |
Older Readers | Sophie McKenzie | Split Second | Simon and Schuster | [13] | |
2016 | Overall | Pamela Butchart , illus. by Thomas Flintham | My Head Teacher is a Vampire Rat | Nosy Crow | |
Younger Children | Viviane Schwarz | Is There a Dog in this Book? | Walker Books | ||
Younger Readers | Pamela Butchart , illus. by Thomas Flintham | My Head Teacher is a Vampire Rat | Nosy Crow | ||
Older Readers | Sarah Crossan | Apple and Rain | Bloomsbury | ||
2017 | Overall | Michael Morpurgo , illus. by Michael Foreman | An Eagle in the Snow | HarperCollins | [2] |
Younger Children | Kes and Claire Gray , illus. by Jim Field | Oi Dog! | Hachette | [2] | |
Younger Readers | Michael Morpurgo , illus. by Michael Foreman | An Eagle in the Snow | HarperCollins | [2] | |
Older Readers | Sarah Crossan | One | Bloomsbury | [2] |
Prior to winning the 2012 Red House Award, Overall, A Monster Calls was named the 2011 British Children's Book of the Year. [5] Subsequently, Ness and Kay as writer and illustrator won both annual children's book awards from the professional librarians, the Carnegie Medal and Greenaway Medal; that double award alone was an unprecedented sweep. In fact, no previous Children's/Red House Award winner (Overall) has won the Carnegie Medal and only one has won the Greenaway Medal for illustration: the inaugural Children's winner Mr Magnolia (Jonathan Cape, 1980), written and illustrated by Quentin Blake.
Michael Morpurgo has won four Overall awards for Kensuke's Kingdom in 2000, Private Peaceful in 2004, Shadow in 2011 and An Eagle in the Snow in 2017. He has also won category awards for The Wreck of the Zanzibar in 1996 and Out of Ashes in 2002. [2]
Four other authors have won two Overall awards:
J. K. Rowling won the Long Novel category four years in succession, 1998 to 2001, for the first four Harry Potter books.
The Carnegie Medal for Writing, established in 1936, is a British literary award that annually recognises one outstanding new English-language book for children or young adults. It is conferred upon the author by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), who calls it "the UK's oldest and most prestigious book award for children's writing". CILIP is currently partnered with the audio technology company Yoto in connection with the award.
The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author of the book by The Guardian newspaper, which established it in 1965 and inaugurated it in 1967. It was a lifetime award in that previous winners were not eligible. At least from 2000 the prize was £1,500. The prize was apparently discontinued after 2016, though no formal announcement appears to have been made.
The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and reading in the United Kingdom, and sponsored by Nestlé, the manufacturer of Smarties candy. It was one of the most respected and prestigious prizes for children's literature.
The Carnegie Medal for Illustration is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) which inherited it from the Library Association. CILIP is currently partnered with the audio technology company Yoto in connection with the award, though their sponsorship and the removal of Greenaway’s name from the medal proved controversial.
The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by The Bookseller. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the National Book Awards from 2010 to 2014.
Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as War Horse (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytelling", for recurring themes such as the triumph of an outsider or survival, for characters' relationships with nature, and for vivid settings such as the Cornish coast or World War I. Morpurgo became the third Children's Laureate, from 2003 to 2005, and he is also the current President of BookTrust, the UK's largest children's reading charity.
Maggie O'Farrell, RSL, is a novelist from Northern Ireland. Her acclaimed first novel, After You'd Gone, won the Betty Trask Award, and a later one, The Hand That First Held Mine, the 2010 Costa Novel Award. She has twice been shortlisted since for the Costa Novel Award for Instructions for a Heatwave in 2014 and This Must Be The Place in 2017. She appeared in the Waterstones 25 Authors for the Future. Her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death reached the top of the Sunday Times bestseller list. Her novel Hamnet won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020, and the fiction prize at the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards. The Marriage Portrait was shortlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction.
The Waterstones Children's Book Prize is an annual award given to a work of children's literature published during the previous year. First awarded in 2005, the purpose of the prize is "to uncover hidden talent in children's writing" and is therefore open only to authors who have published no more than two or three books, depending on which category they are in. The prize is awarded by British book retailer Waterstones.
The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming First Rudd ministry following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts.
Manjeet Mann is an actress and writer living in Kent, England. She also founded Run the World, "a not for profit that uses sport and theatre as a means to empower women and girls." Her novel The Crossing won the 2022 Costa Book Award for Children's Book.
TheWriters' Prize, previously known as the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting in 2017, the sponsor was Rathbone Investment Management. At the 2023 award ceremony, it was announced that the prize was looking for new sponsorship as Rathbones would be ending their support. In November 2023, having failed to secure a replacement sponsor, the award's governing body announced its rebrand as The Writers' Prize.
The Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards are annual literary awards presented by the Booksellers Association in the UK and Ireland since 2016. They are sponsored by National Book Tokens.
Onjali Qatara Raúf is a British author and the founder of the two NGOs: Making Herstory, a woman's rights organisation tackling the abuse and trafficking of women and girls in the UK; and O's Refugee Aid Team, which raises awareness and funds to support refugee frontline aid organisations.
Oyinkan Braithwaite is a Nigerian-British novelist and writer. She was born in Lagos and spent her childhood in both Nigeria and the UK.
Elle McNicoll is a Scottish and British bestselling children's writer. McNicoll has been described as "undoubtedly" an outstanding new talent in children's books [who] will inspire readers young and old for generations to come".
The Costa Book Award for Novel, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2005), was an annual literary award for novels, as part of the Costa Book Awards.
The Costa Book Award for First Novel, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2006), was an annual literary award for authors' debut novels, part of the Costa Book Awards which were discontinued in 2022, the 2021 awards being the last made.
The Costa Book Award for Children's Book, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2005), was an annual literary award for children's books, part of the Costa Book Awards, which were discontinued in 2022, the 2021 awards being the last made.
Sophie Anderson is a Welsh author. Among other honours, her books have been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal three times.
The Not the Booker Prize is an annual literary award presented the The Guardian. To be eligible for the Prize, books must meet all criteria for the Booker Prize. Eligible books are nominated and voted on by Guardian readers to select a shortlist. After the shortlist is selected, the books are debated on the Guardian books blog in the following weeks, and the winner is selected both by reader votes and a panel of judges.