Shape Early Years and Children’s Reading

Are you engaged in teaching children reading skills? Do you want to widen the reading material you use in an early years setting or in primary school? Then we’ll share with you our hot tips.

There are a number of children’s literature awards which come out annually and you can get the list in advance:

• Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals – cover writing and illustration. CILIP Childrens’ Librarians judge the books and there is also a shadowing scheme which you can find out about on the Take Part page. Take a look at the shortlists for Carnegie and Kate Greenaway for 2021 and discover the winners.
• The Centre for Literature in Primary Education CLiPPA award covers poetry and also has a shadowing scheme which you can join if you are in a primary or secondary school through completing the online form. Find out more about CLiPPA and read about the judges for 2021.
• The Fab Prize is the children’s prize for new Black Asian and Multi-Ethnic (BAME) authors and illustrators founded by Faber & Faber and the Andlyn Literacy Agency. The shortlist will come out in August.
• The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award covers radical fiction for children up to the age of 12. The Alliance of Radical Booksellers gives the award which was set up with Letterbox Library. The 2021 shortlist is on the home page. You can also find previous years’ winners on the Previous Shortlists & Winners page.
• The Diverse Book Awards organised by the Author’s School allows readers and publishers to submit books where the characters are black, Asian, Latin American and/or are inclusive covering children’s, young adult and adult fiction. The longlist is due out in July. Again you can browse through the 2020 shortlist and longlist and the winners.

It’s not all about awards though. BookTrust’s Represents campaign helps schools surface diverse reading material for children through selecting and promoting books and advising on inviting authors to visit. Find out more on the Support for Schools page.