The UKLA Book Awards seek to celebrate children’s books in order to:
- encourage teachers to increase their professional and personal knowledge of recently published high quality children’s books
- promote the place of books for young people in all educational settings from nursery to key stage 4
The books selected for the award will be titles that teachers can share with pupils as part of regular classroom experience, eg to:
- read for pleasure in the teacher’s read aloud programme to the whole class
- inspire extended response from learners (through discussion, creative interaction or understanding the wider curriculum)
- be the focus of study (set books, shared and guided reading)
- enhance all aspects of literacy learning and literary study
Selection committees and teacher judges are asked to look, first and foremost, for well-written, engaging ‘reads’ and, where appropriate, outstanding illustration and design.
Book Award dates:
Submissions invited: June
Longlists: September
Shortlists: March
Winners: July
Submissions invited for UKLA Book Awards 2024.
Please read the Guidance for Publishers which explains the process and what you are required to do at each stage and pay careful attention to the Book Awards Criteria before submitting using the forms below. There are 4 forms, one for each category. Please ensure you use the correct form and do not mix categories.
- Maximum 3 books per imprint per category.
- PLUS a maximum of 3 new titles from authors/illustrators/translators previously shortlisted in 2021, 2022 and 2023. For details of these previous shortlists please check here
- Please note that books must be published for the first time in the UK between June 1st 2022 and May 31st 2023. Books previously published in other countries and translations are eligible. However, reprints and new editions are not eligible.
When you have submitted a form, you will receive an automated response which will include the details of the longlisting panel for each category. This response may go to your spam folder so please do check before sending any queries to awards@ukla.org.uk