The Children's Book Award is a British
literary award
A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded Literature, literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations
Most literary awards come with a corresponding award c ...
for
children's books
A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...
, 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,][RHCBA, About.] a brand owned by bookselling company The Book People
The Book People Ltd was a UK online bookseller founded in 1988. It went into administration in 2019 and was formally dissolved in 2022.
History
The Book People started business in 1988, initially in the Guildford, Surrey area. It expanded rap ...
.
Process and latest rendition
The 2017 Overall Winner was from the Books for Younger Readers category and was won by Michael Morpurgo
Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo ('' né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) 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 storytelli ...
and illustrator Michael Foreman for ''An Eagle in the Snow'', published by HarperCollins.["''The 5th Wave'' wins Red House children's book award"]
Charles Green. ''theguardian.com''. 22 February 2014. Retrieved 2014-10-21.
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.[RHCBA, Nominate.] At least in Britain, many children participate through book groups.[
]
The three ballots, or shortlists, comprise those ten books that garner the most nominations. There are four books on the Younger Children ballot and three each on the Younger Readers and Older Readers ballots.[RHCBA, 2012 Shortlist. Current shortlist not yet available 2012-09-23.]
Winners
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, 9 from the Short Novel or Younger Readers category, 4 from the Picture Book or Younger Children category.[RHCBA, Past Winners. Retrieved 2014-10-21.]
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Winners of multiple awards
Prior to winning the 2012 Red House Award, Overall, ''A Monster Calls'' was named the 2011 British Children's Book of the Year.[ 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
Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death.
Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...
, 1980), written and illustrated by Quentin Blake
Sir Quentin Saxby Blake (born 16 December 1932) is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his l ...
.
Authors with multiple Children's/Red House Awards
Michael Morpurgo
Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo ('' né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) 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 storytelli ...
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.Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
books.
See also
Notes
References
Citations
Red House Children's Book Award
(RHCBA). Retrieved 2012-09-23.
Select from the left menu
Version archived on 1 October 2012
External links
*
Red House Children's Book Award at Booktrust
{{dead link , date=September 2012
British children's literary awards
Picture book awards
1981 establishments in the United Kingdom
Awards established in 1981
English-language literary awards