Sharna Jackson heads Children’s Books Category Judges for the Nero Book Awards 2025
The 2025 Nero Book Awards are underway with the judges for the different categories 
announced. The judges for the Children’s Fiction Award are: author Sharna Jackson, Emily Bearn, Children’s Literary Critic and author, The Telegraph, and Nick Campbell, Children’s Campaign Manager, Waterstones.
Now in its third year, the Nero Book Awards recognise and celebrate outstanding authors and exceptional writing across the UK and Ireland in four categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Fiction, and Children’s Fiction.
The 2025 judges will look for books that demonstrate outstanding writing and literary excellence; while also selecting the titles they most want to recommend to others for their quality writing and readability. The judges are searching for books that are expertly crafted, highly enjoyable and likely to stand the test of time.
The judging panels will each select four titles in their category – creating a 16-strong shortlist – before choosing an overall winner. The four category winners will then compete for the Nero Gold Prize, awarded by a final judging panel to the overall book of the year. The Nero Gold Prize winner will receive £30,000, whilst category winners receive £5,000 each. Eligible books must have been published in the UK or Ireland between 1st December 2024 and 30th November 2025.
The books on the 2024 children’s shortlist were Bird Boy by Catherine Bruton (Nosy Crow); How to Survive a Horror Movie by Scarlett Dunmore (Little Tiger); The Twelve by Liz Hyder, illustrated by Tom De Freston (Pushkin Children’s Books); and Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody by Patrick Ness, illustrated by Tim Miller (Walker Books). The award was won by Liz Hyder.
Gerry Ford, Founder and CEO, Caffè Nero, said, ‘The Nero Book Awards have grown from strength to strength, and I’m proud that they are recognised amongst the most prestigious literary prizes in the UK and Ireland. Our judges truly represent some of the most influential people in the industry in terms of talent and taste-making. I’m eager to discover which books they select as the reads of the year from the UK and Ireland for their shortlists.’
The 2025 Nero Gold Prize will be awarded on 4th March 2026, at an evening ceremony at the Outernet in central London.
