Children’s Booker Prize for kids’ fiction announced, adults and youngsters choose winner
Launching in 2026, the Children’s Booker Prize will see a winner chosen by a combined panel of child and adult judges and awarded US$66,600
The Booker Prize has announced its “most ambitious endeavour” in 20 years with the launch of its first prize for children’s fiction.
The foundation will launch the literary award in 2026, with the winner to be chosen by a combined panel of child and adult judges and awarded £50,000 (US$66,600).
The Children’s Booker Prize will see an author selected annually from 2027 to celebrate the “best contemporary fiction” for children aged eight to 12 years old.
The foundation will also gift 30,000 copies of the shortlisted and winning books, with the aim of engaging and growing a “new generation of readers by championing the best children’s fiction from writers around the world”.
Children’s author Dame Jacqueline Wilson, best known for The Story of Tracy Beaker, praised the new award and described it as a “marvellous idea”.
“Now, more than ever, children’s books need a huge boost,” she said. “It’s so dismaying that only 30 per cent of today’s children enjoy reading for pleasure – and yet there are so many exciting and enjoyable children’s books out there, many sinking without trace.