Shortlists announced for the UKLA Book Awards 2023
The shortlists have been announced for the UKLA Book Awards 2023, the only UK children’s book awards judged entirely by teachers. Independent publishers dominate the lists with Andersen Press, Flying Eye, Firefly, Faber, Troika and Scribble all featuring and Flying Eye doing particularly well with three of their titles shortlisted across two categories.
For UKLA, giving classroom practitioners the opportunity to read high quality new children’s books is as important as finding an overall winner. Research carried out by members of UKLA (Cremin et al 2008) clearly demonstrated the links between teachers’ knowledge of children’s books and the likelihood of pupils becoming successful readers. Despite this evidence, teachers are seldom given time to read new books or funding to purchase them when they do. As Chris Lockwood, Awards Chair said, ‘Despite the challenges schools have been facing this year, it was a delight to see the energy, skill, knowledge and enthusiasm our teacher judges and their book group leaders brought to the task of finding their six favourite books from such wonderful and diverse longlists.’
The shortlists in full are:
3-6+
Saving Mr Hoot written and illustrated by Helen Stephens (Alison Green)
Who are you? written by Smriti Halls and illustrated by Ali Pye (Farshore)
The Comet written and illustrated by Joe Todd- Stanton (Flying Eye)
Flooded written and illustrated by Mariajo Ilustrajo (Frances Lincoln)
Small’s Big Dream written by Manjeet Mann and illustrated by Amanda Quartey (Harper Collins)
We’re Going to Find a Monster written by Malorie Blackman and illustrated by Dapo Adeola (Puffin)
7-10+
All to Play For written by Eve Ainsworth and illustrated by Kirsty Beautyman (Barrington Stoke)
The Light in Everything written by Katya Balen (Bloomsbury)
The Lion Above the Door written by Onjali Q Raúf (Orion)
The Elephant in the Room written by Holly Goldberg Sloan (Piccadilly)
Little Light written by Coral Rumble(Troika)
The Chime Seekers written by Ross Montgomery (Walker)
11-14+
Tremendous Things written by Susin Nielsen (Andersen)
In the Wild Light written by Jeff Zentner (Andersen)
The Blue Book of Nebo written by Manon Steffan Ros (Firefly)
Truth Be Told written by Sue Divin (Macmillan)
Julia and the Shark written by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and illustrated by Tom de Freston (Orion)
The Crossing written by Manjeet Mann (Penguin)
Info 3-14+
Musical Truth: A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs written by Jeffrey Boakye and illustrated by Ngadi Smart (Faber)
Amazon River written by Sangma Francis illustrated by Rômolo D’Hipólito (Flying Eye)
Bandoola: The Great Elephant Rescue written and illustrated by William Grill (Flying Eye)
Here and Queer written by Rowan Ellis and illustrated by Jacky Sheridan (Frances Lincoln)
The Greatest Show on Earth written and illustrated by Mini Grey (Puffin)
I am the Subway written and illustrated by Kim Hyo-eun. Translated by Deborah Smith (Scribble)
The fact that these shortlists are judged by class teachers and can be heartily recommended to their peers makes them particularly useful as co-sponsor Deborah McLaren, Director of Lovereading4kids said, “The UKLA Awards are a special thing, with the added bonus that practitioners can see and appreciate first-hand the impact these beautiful books have on their audience – the children themselves in their classrooms. Congratulations to all of the shortlisted authors and illustrators, it was an impressive longlist so it’s a great achievement to get this far. We can’t wait to see who the winners are!’
Sue Polchow, Library Advisor at co -sponsor Reading Cloud, said, ‘Encouraging reading for enjoyment and improving literacy are very much at the heart of Reading Cloud, so we are delighted to support these worthwhile and unique children’s book awards as co-sponsors again this year. We are always heartened to see so many dedicated teacher judges all over the UK working with the longlisted, shortlisted, and winning books to inspire a love of reading in their pupil groups and beyond. We look forward to hearing more about the winning titles in due course.’
12 teachers nominated from the 87 involved in the shortlisting will now form the final judging panel and have the challenging task of reading all the shortlisted books in all categories. The winner’s announcement will take place at the UKLA International Conference at the University of Exeter on June 23rd.