Peters Children’s Book of the Year:
Awards Mission

The Peters’ Children’s Book of the Year Awards are awarded annually to celebrate the best of children’s fiction and non-fiction published in the UK.

We are seeking books that provide an outstanding reading experience for children and young people, that will inspire more children to pick up a book and read.

We celebrate publishing in four categories: Picture Books, Junior Fiction, Teen fiction and Non-Fiction.

Mission

The awards’ mission is to celebrate and champion the power of books to inspire children to read for pleasure, ensuring all children, regardless of background, have access to the opportunities that reading holds.

We are looking for:

• Books which provide an outstanding reading experience for children and young people, encouraging them to take enjoyment and develop a love of reading for pleasure;
• Books which prompt the reader to share and discuss them with others;
• Books which are original, and/or attract new audiences to reading, helping create the next generation of readers;
• A selection of books with wide appeal, to appeal to young people of all backgrounds – promoting a society and readership where diversity and representation in books are held central;
• A selection of titles which celebrate the publishing sector – large and small publishers alike.

The process

Nominations and shortlisting

The awards combine a longlisting and shortlisting process by Peters’ expert librarians and children’s book specialists, with a public vote to determine the winning titles.

Longlists and shortlists are selected by Peters’ qualified team of librarians and children’s book specialists, who read and review more than 10,000 newly published children’s books every year. They draw on a wide reading repertoire and vast knowledge of children’s and teenage/YA publishing.

Our team meet to determine longlisted titles in each category in September of each year. Longlists will be released publicly in October each year, following discussion and voting by our team.

Further discussion and voting takes place in October determine 3-4 shortlisted books for each of the four categories, with the shortlist announcement taking place in November each year. 

Voting

Once the shortlists have been announced, voting opens to public libraries and schools to determine the award winners. All staff working within public libraries, schools, or school library services are eligible to vote. Voting is open from the day of the shortlist announcement in November until late February each year.  

The winner within each category will be the shortlisted title that receives the highest number of teacher and librarian votes in that category. The overall winner will be the title that receives the highest number of teacher and librarian votes across all categories.

The winners are announced in March of each year.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the 2026 Awards, titles must have been first published in print – either hardback or paperback (first format) – between 1 September 2024 and 1 September 2025. The book must be written in the English language and specifically published for children and young people.

The book may be co-authored, however multiple author anthologies are excluded. Books by previous Peters’ Children’s Book of the Year winners or shortlistees are eligible.

Longlisted and shortlisted titles are nominated by Peters’ team of expert reviewers (qualified librarians and teachers), who read and review more than 10,000 newly published children’s books every year. We will consider books from all UK publishers, regardless of size that are submitted in the usual way to Peters between 1 September 2024 and 1 September 2025. Through our close links with the publishers, we receive advance copies of the majority of newly published titles which we review book-in-hand. If a title has missed this year’s deadline, please contact us to discuss eligibility for next year’s awards.

Winners

What is the prize?

In keeping with the award’s mission, the aim of the prize is to promote reading for pleasure amongst children and young people. The overall Peters Children’s Book of the Year winner wins £1000 worth of books (RRP value) to donate to a school or public library of their choice, and a commemorative Peters Children’s Book of the Year trophy.

Individual category winners each receive a Peters Children’s Book of the Year trophy.