LONGLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2018 UKLA BOOK AWARDS

@The_UKLA #UKLA18 #teachersbookawards

The judges for these unique book awards, which are the only awards judged by active classroom teachers, will this year come from Wales, with the 2018 UKLA International Conference, at which the eventual winners are announced, being held in Cardiff.

There are 8 groups of judges in total covering the three age categories and they have until mid-March to read the longlisted books, discuss them with their group leaders, and share them with pupils. All groups will then meet together for the difficult task of choosing their shortlist of 6 books in each category.

Headteachers welcomed the opportunity for their teachers to widen their knowledge of recent children’s titles. For UKLA, giving classroom practitioners the opportunity to read a number of new children’s books is as important as finding an overall winner. Research carried out by members of UKLA (Cremin et al 2008) clearly demonstrated the links between teachers’ knowledge of children’s books and the likelihood of pupils becoming successful readers. Despite this evidence, teachers are seldom given time to read new books or funding to purchase them when they do.

UKLA are grateful for the continued support of the award sponsors, which help the awards to grow and develop each year. Micro Librarian Services (MLS), Lovereading4schools and Lovereading4kids, recognise the value of the judging experience for schools and teachers:

‘Lovereading4schools and its sister site Lovereading4kids is very excited and proud to be a co-sponsor of the UKLA Book Awards 2018. The way UKLA work with schools and pupils complements Lovereading’s approach of using book experts and children reviewers to provide good, trusted guidance for teachers and parents that can be hard to find. We are looking forward to sharing the longlisted, shortlisted and winning books with all the parents and schools who use our websites.’ Robert Prime Director of Lovereading Ltd

The UKLA Selection Panel, chaired by Lynda Graham, whittled down the 361 publisher submissions to arrive at a set of longlists, which excitingly feature books in translation in every category and more nonfiction titles than ever. They were pleased to highlight exciting debut authors as well as established and familiar names in children’s literature. Of particular note is the success of small publishing houses like Barrington Stoke, Otter-Barry Books, Gecko Press and Tiny Owl. Lynda Graham says: “the quality of submissions this year was of a particularly high standard and the panel had no easy task, but we are confident that the teachers and schools involved in the judging will benefit enormously from the impact of these quality texts in their schools” All of the books exemplify the award criteria of writing which offers language rich in layered meanings, imaginative expression and exciting vocabulary. Where present, high quality illustration is also an important feature of the chosen texts.

Longlist 3-6

Longlist 7-11

Longlist 12-16

Shortlist announcement w/b March 26th 2018

The winners will be announced on July 6th at the UKLA International Conference, Mercure Holland House Hotel, Cardiff

Enquires fao Lynda Graham awards@ukla.org