Winners of the 2026 Wainwright Prizes announced

The winners of the Wainwright Prizes, the UK’s nature and conservation writing awards, were announced at a special ceremony held at the Elmley Nature Reserve in Kent on Thursday 17 September.

Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane’s The Book of Birds (Hamish Hamilton) was awarded the 2026 Wainwright Prize Book of the Year, with Thomas Halliday and Gavin Scott winning the 2026 Children’s Wainwright Prize Book of the Year for their book Otherlands: An Illustrated Journey Through Earth’s Lost Worlds (Puffin).

Awarded annually since 2014, The Wainwright Prizes showcase writing that reflects the values of its namesake, Alfred Wainwright, celebrating nature and our environment, nurturing respect for our planet, and informing readers of the threats that the earth currently faces.

There were two more children’s book award winners. The 2026 Children’s Wainwright Prize for Fiction was won by The Danger of Small Things by Caryl Lewis (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books) and the 2026 Children’s Wainwright Prize for Picture Books went to The Great Bear by Annie Booker (Two Hoots).

The 2026 Wainwright Prize Book of the Year and Illustrative Books category winner, The Book of Birds, was described by the judges as an ‘utterly beautiful book to treasure.’ A call to help stop the decline in endangered bird species in Britain, this book asks not what a bird is, but ‘who’ is that bird. This is Robert Macfarlane’s second win, having been awarded the prize in 2019 for his book Underland, and whilst the duo were shortlisted for the prize in 2018 for their book The Lost Words, this is Jackie Morris’ first Wainwright Prize win.

The 2026 Children’s Wainwright Prize Book of the Year and Children’s Non-Fiction category winner, Otherlands: An Illustrated Journey Through Earth’s Lost Worlds by Thomas Halliday, illustrated by Gavin Scott, is a ‘deeply knowledgeable’ illustrated journey through time, according to the judges. It is adapted from the bestselling adult novel that was highly commended at the 2022 Wainwright Prize. The book introduces young people to the life that shared the world before our time, ‘a breakthrough children’s classic that will endure for decades’ in the words of the judges.

Alongside the winners, several books were highly commended. The Adventures of Portly the Otter: Untold Tales From the Wind in the Willows by M.G. Leonard, illustrated by Polly Dunbar (Farshore) was Highly Commended in the Children’s Fiction category, and The Cave Explorer by Kate Winter (Puffin) was highly commended in the Children’s Non-Fiction category.  Isla and The Sky by Greg Stobbs (Oxford University Press) was highly commended in the Children’s Picture Books category.

The Judges for the children’s categories included Ornithologist, activist and author, Mya Rose-Craig; bestselling children’s author, Abi Elphinstone and broadcast journalist, author and storyteller, Ash Bhardwaj.

Each overall winning book was awarded £2,500, with individual category winners receiving £500.