The winners of this year’s The Week Junior Book Awards were revealed on Monday 28 September at a ceremony held at BFI Southbank, hosted by Fun Kids presenter Bex Lindsay.

With 14 different categories, The Week Junior Book Awards were set up to celebrate the wealth of creative talent across children’s publishing and the wide range of titles available to engage young readers.

This year’s winners included books by both established and emerging authors and illustrators. They were chosen by a panel of high-profile names, including Joe Wicks, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Rhys Stephenson and Dr Emily MacDonagh, along with industry experts drawn from the worlds of publishing, education, libraries, literacy charities, bookshops and media. Readers of The Week Junior were also involved, voting for the Book Cover of the Year and the Children’s Choice Award.

Commenting on this year’s awards, Anna Bassi, Editorial Director of The Week Junior, said: ‘These books represent the very best in children’s literature – in all its forms. They are smart, funny, eye-opening and mind-expanding. They are authentic, empowering and innovative and – most importantly – they are books that kids will want to read, look at and listen to – again and again and again. Congratulations to everyone involved in creating them and thank you to our judges for giving them the opportunity to be discovered, and devoured, by even more young readers.’

Congratulations to all the winning authors and illustrators!

 

The Week Junior Book Awards 2026 – Category Winners

Children’s Book of the Year – Breakthrough: Gloam by Jack Mackay, illustrated by Ben Joel Price (Rock the Boat)

Children’s Book of the Year – Picture Book: Don’t Trust Fish! by Neil Sharpson, illustrated by Dan Santat (Andersen Press)

Children’s Book of the Year – Younger Fiction: The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood: School Trip by Farhana Islam, illustrated by Simran Diamond Singh (Farshore)

Highly Commended: Ivy and Bearlock Holmes by Kristyna Litten (Magic Cat Publishing)

Children’s Book of the Year – Older Fiction: The Boy with Big Decisions by Helen Rutter (Scholastic)

Highly Commended: The First Year by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Otter-Barry Books)

Children’s Book of the Year – Graphic Novel: Boss of the Underworld: Shirley vs the Green Menace by Tor Freeman (Hodder Children’s Books)

Highly Commended: Supa Nova by Chanté Timothy (Nosy Crow)

Children’s Book of the Year – Poetry: This is Not a Small Voice curated by Traci N. Todd, illustrated by Jade Orlando (Nosy Crow)

Children’s Book of the Year: Wellbeing: How to be Disabled and Proud by Cathy Reay (Puffin)

Children’s Book of the Year – Hobbies and Interests: World Kitchen: Celebrations by Abigail Wheatley, illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat (Usborne Publishing)

Children’s Book of the Year – Animals and Nature: A Tree is a Time Machine by Rob Sears and Tom Sears (Laurence King Publishing)

Children’s Book of the Year – Factual: 10 Children Who Changed the World by Paterson Joseph, illustrated by Rumbidzai Savanhu (Wren & Rook)

Children’s Book of the Year – STEM: The Wizard’s Guide to Magical Experiments by A.J. Wood, illustrated by Jo Rioux (Magic Cat Publishing)

Children’s Book of the Year – Audiobook: Gloam by Jack Mackay, narrated by Indira Varma (W. F. Howes Ltd)

Children’s Choice: Bunny vs Monkey: Intergalactic Monkey Business by Jamie Smart (DFB Phoenix)

Children’s Book Cover of the Year: Deep Dark: A Cassia Thorne Mystery by Zohra Nabi, illustrated by Paola Escobar (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)

You can look back at the shortlists for each category here.