Kotryna Kazlauskaite, a Year 11 student from Liverpool has been named UK Pupil Library Assistant of the Year, with Reuben Colton, a Year 6 pupil from Watford achieving a national commendation alongside her. Both were celebrated in a special London ceremony led by the School Library Association (SLA) and the CILIP School Libraries Group. The announcement, made at an award ceremony hosted by Pearson in central London, marks the 11th year of the UK Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Awards (PLAA). Children’s laureate, Joseph Coelho presented the awards to Kotryna and Reuben. Kotryna attends ..read more

Are You a Monster? by Guilherme Karsten and published by Happy Yak has been designated as the best new book for sharing with young children by BookTrust.  Are You a Monster? was awarded the BookTrust Storytime 2024 Prize at a ceremony in London after voting by librarians and families up and down the country. The announcement of the book of the year, is part of the BookTrust Storytime 2023-24, an annual programme which this year was run in over 2500 libraries in England and Northern Ireland and last year reached approximately 50,000 children under the age of five. The programme s ..read more

The shortlists have been announced for the UKLA Book Awards, the only national UK children’s book awards judged entirely by teachers. The Awards highlight texts from a ‘wide and inclusive range’ of publishers that ‘recognise a broad range of perspectives, experiences and voices’ but first and foremost the judges are looking for well written, engaging reads. This year’s shortlist features a number of small, independent publishers, with UCLan, the children’s publishing arm of the University of Central Lancaster and The O’Brien Press from Dublin both appearing for the first time.     Th ..read more

The shortlists for the Yoto Carnegies, formerly the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced. The shortlists were revealed at a special event at the London Book Fair on 13 March by a panel including Jake Hope, Carnegie Awards Executive, 2024 Chair of Judges Maura Farrelly,  and 2023 Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing winner, Manon Steffan Ros (The Blue Book of Nebo, Firefly Press). The Yoto Carnegies celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration and are unique in being judged by librarians, with respective Shadowers’ Choice Medals voted for by childre ..read more

The shortlist for the Children’s Book Award 2024 has been announced. The Children’s Book Award is the only national award for children’s books that is voted for entirely by children and authors in the running this year include Rob Biddulph, Michael Rosen, Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve and Alex Falase-Koya. Children nationwide are now invited to vote for their favourite of the ten shortlisted books. Online voting will open on 25th March and the deadline is 12 noon on 18th May.  The category winners and the overall winner will be announced at an awards ceremony in central London on Saturd ..read more

New charity Inclusive Books for Children has announced Too Green!, You’re So Amazing! and Meet the Maliks, Twin Detectives: The Cookie Culprit as the winners of their inaugural £30,000 book prize. Too Green!, written by Sumana Seeboruth and illustrated by Maribel Castells, was named winner of the Baby and Toddler category. You’re So Amazing!, written by James and Lucy Catchpole and illustrated by Karen George, won Best Picture Book and the Children’s Fiction award went to Meet the Maliks, Twin Detectives: The Cookie Culprit, written by Zanib Mian and ill ..read more

If The World Were 100 People, written by Jackie McCann and illustrated by Aaron Cushley, has been named winner of the 2023 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award. The ALCS Educational Writers’ Award is the UK’s only award for creative educational writing recognising educational writing that  inspires creativity, encourages students to read widely and builds up their understanding of a subject beyond the requirements of exam specifications. If The World Were 100 People (Red Shed) helps children to better understand the world they live in by imagining the world was condensed to a small village of ..read more

Broadcasters Greg James and Chris Smith have been named winners of the Ruth Rendell Award 2024 for their work promoting reading in schools. Launched in 2016 by ALCS and the National Literacy Trust, the Ruth Rendell Award honours best-selling crime author and literacy advocate Ruth Rendell, who passed away in 2015. It recognises those who have had the most significant influence on literacy in the UK over the past year. Previous winners include Andy McNab and Cressida Cowell. Dapo Adeola and Nigel Lungenmuss-Ward were last year’s joint winers. Greg and Chris were nominated for their work profili ..read more

The longlists for the 2024 Yoto Carnegies, the UK’s longest running book awards for children and young people, have been announced. From 129 nominations, a total of 36 books have made the longlists; 19 for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing, and 18 for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration, formerly the Kate Greenaway Medal. The 12 judges are children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group. Tyger by SF Said and illustrated by Dave McKean (David Fickling Books) is on both prize longlists. Author and illustrator were previously nominated together for Phoenix in 2013. There ..read more

Seven finalists have been announced in the annual Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Awards (PLAA) run by the School Libraries Group of Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP SLG) and the School Library Association (SLA). Open to pupils who assist in school libraries across the UK, the award recognises the impact of their work at their school and equally the value of the experience to the children’s lives. Entries are judged by a panel from the children’s book world and school library community. The shortlisted pupils attend schools from London to Liverpool and Ne ..read more