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. The selections are made entirely by children, which is unique among British literary awards.
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." 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— 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]
| 1981 | Mister Magnolia | Jonathan Cape | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Fair's Fair | Macdonald Young Books | ||
| 1983 | Jonathan Cape | |||
| 1984 | Pavilion | |||
| 1985 | Brother in the Land | Oxford University Press | ||
| 1986 | Arthur | Spindlewood | ||
| 1987 | Heinemann | |||
| 1988 | Winnie the Witch | Oxford University Press | ||
| 1989 | , illus. by Quentin Blake | Matilda | Jonathan Cape |
| 1990 | N/A | Room 13 | Doubleday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | N/A | Threadbear | Hodder & Stoughton | |
| 1992 | Overall | Kiss the Dust | Methuen | |
| Picture Book | and Peter Utton | SHHH! | ABC | |
| Short Novel | Find the White Horse | Viking Press | ||
| Long Novel | Kiss the Dust | Methuen | ||
| 1993 | Overall | Heinemann | ||
| Picture Book | Snowy | Collins | ||
| Short Novel | Heinemann | |||
| Long Novel | Gulf | Methuen | ||
| 1994 | Overall | Methuen | ||
| Picture Book | Amazing Anthony Ant | Orion | ||
| Short Novel | Viking Press | |||
| Long Novel | Methuen | |||
| 1995 | Overall | Harriet's Hare | Doubleday | |
| Picture Book | Andersen Press | |||
| Short Novel | Harriet's Hare | Doubleday | ||
| Long Novel | Walk Two Moons | Pan Macmillan | ||
| 1996 | Overall | Double Act | Doubleday | |
| Picture Book | Solo | Hutchinson | ||
| Short Novel | Double Act | Doubleday | ||
| Long Novel | Heinemann | |||
| 1997 | Overall | Viking Press | ||
| Picture Book | Mr Bear to the Rescue | The O'Brien Press | ||
| Short Novel | Viking Press | |||
| Long Novel | Which Way is Home? | Methuen | ||
| 1998 | Overall | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Bloomsbury | |
| Picture Book | Orchard Books | |||
| Short Novel | Nightmare Stairs | Doubleday | ||
| Long Novel | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Bloomsbury | ||
| 1999 | Overall | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Bloomsbury | |
| Picture Book | , illus. by Adrian Johnson | What! | Bloomsbury | |
| Short Novel | , illus. by Nick Sharratt | Little Dad | Mammoth | |
| Long Novel | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Bloomsbury |
| 2000 | Overall | , illus. by Michael Foreman | Kensuke's Kingdom | Heinemann | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Picture Book | Demon Teddy | Hutchinson | |||
| Short Novel | Kensuke's Kingdom | Heinemann | |||
| Long Novel | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Bloomsbury | |||
| 2001 | Overall | , illus. by Nick Sharratt | Eat Your Peas | The Bodley Head | |
| Picture Book | Eat Your Peas | The Bodley Head | |||
| Short Novel | Lizzie Zipmouth | Corgi | |||
| Long Novel | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Bloomsbury | |||
| 2002 | Overall | Noughts and Crosses | Corgi | [9] | |
| Younger Children | , illus. by Katharine McEwen | Walker Books | |||
| Younger Readers | Out of the Ashes | Macmillan | |||
| Older Readers | Noughts and Crosses | Corgi | |||
| 2003 | Overall | Skeleton Key | Walker Books | ||
| Younger Children | , illus. by Nick Sharratt | Pants | David Fickling | ||
| Younger Readers | Blitzed | Doubleday | |||
| Older Readers | Skeleton Key | Walker Books | |||
| 2004 | Overall | Private Peaceful | HarperCollins | ||
| Younger Children | Billy's Bucket | The Bodley Head | |||
| Younger Readers | Macmillan | ||||
| Older Readers | Private Peaceful | HarperCollins | |||
| 2005 | Overall | Baby Brains | Walker Books | ||
| Younger Children | Baby Brains | Walker Books | |||
| Younger Readers | Best Friends | Doubleday | |||
| Older Readers | Hodder | ||||
| 2006 | Overall | Disney Hyperion | |||
| Younger Children | and Steve Cox | Pigs Might Fly! | Puffin | ||
| Younger Readers | Spy Dog | Puffin | |||
| Older Readers | Disney Hyperion | ||||
| 2007 | Overall | You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! | Egmont | [10] | |
| Younger Children | , illus. by Adrian Reynolds | Who's in the Loo? | Andersen Press | ||
| Younger Readers | You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! | Egmont | |||
| Older Readers | Girl, Missing | Simon & Schuster | |||
| 2008 | Overall | Skulduggery Pleasant | HarperCollins | ||
| Younger Children | Penguin | Walker Books | |||
| Younger Readers | Ottoline and the Yellow Cat | Macmillan | |||
| Older Readers | Skulduggery Pleasant | HarperCollins | |||
| 2009 | Overall | Blood Ties | Simon & Schuster | ||
| Younger Children | Walker Books | ||||
| Younger Readers | Daisy and the Trouble with Zoos | Transworld | |||
| Older Readers | Blood Ties | Simon & Schuster |
| 2010 | Overall | Scholastic | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Younger Children | Bottoms Up! | Puffin | |||
| Younger Readers | Mondays are Murder | Walker Books | |||
| Older Readers | Scholastic | ||||
| 2011 | Overall | Shadow | HarperCollins | ||
| Younger Children | Yuck! That's not a Monster | Little Tiger Press | |||
| Younger Readers | Shadow | HarperCollins | |||
| Older Readers | Time Riders | Penguin | |||
| 2012 | Overall | and Jim Kay | Walker Books | [11] | |
| Younger Children | Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice | Jonathan Cape | |||
| Younger Readers | Scholastic | ||||
| Older Readers | and Jim Kay | Walker Books | |||
| 2013 | Overall | , illus. by Lee Wildish | Corgi | ||
| Younger Children | Corgi | ||||
| Younger Readers | , illus. by Tony Ross | Gangsta Granny | HarperCollins | ||
| Older Readers | Simon & Schuster | ||||
| 2014 | Overall | Penguin | [12] | ||
| Younger Children | Superworm | Scholastic | |||
| Younger Readers | Atticus Claw Breaks the Law | Faber | |||
| Older Readers | Penguin | ||||
| 2015 | Overall | , illus. by Oliver Jeffers | HarperCollins | [13] [14] | |
| Younger Children | , illus. by Oliver Jeffers | HarperCollins | |||
| Younger Readers | Demon Dentist | HarperCollins | |||
| Older Readers | Split Second | Simon and Schuster | |||
| 2016 | Overall | , illus. by Thomas Flintham | My Head Teacher is a Vampire Rat | Nosy Crow | |
| Younger Children | Is There a Dog in this Book? | Walker Books | |||
| Younger Readers | My Head Teacher is a Vampire Rat | Nosy Crow | |||
| Older Readers | Apple and Rain | Bloomsbury | |||
| 2017 | Overall | , illus. by Michael Foreman | HarperCollins | ||
| Younger Children | , illus. by Jim Field | Oi Dog! | Hachette | ||
| Younger Readers | HarperCollins | ||||
| Older Readers | One | Bloomsbury |
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.
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.