The Children’s Wainwright Prize
From Wainwright Prize
Resource type: Book awards
Price band: Free
Key stage: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5, Adult
Region(s): All of UK
The Wainwright Prize was set up to showcase the best writing about nature and conservation in the UK and to inspire readers to connect more deeply with the natural world.
A dedicated Children’s Wainwright Prize covering children’s fiction, non-fiction and picture books was added in 2025, bringing the total number of award categories to six. All categories are judged by panels made up of authors and illustrators, booksellers, TV presenters and environmentalists.
The six prize categories are:
- The Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing
- The Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing
- The Wainwright Prize for Illustrative Books
- The Children’s Wainwright Prize for Fiction
- The Children’s Wainwright Prize for Non-Fiction
- The Children’s Wainwright Prize for Picture Books
Read our winner and shortlist announcements for The Children’s Wainwright Prize 2025.
Timetable:
- The shortlists will be announced on 5th August 2026 (tbc).
- The winners will be announced on 17 September 2026 (tbc).
Cost: Free.
About the Wainwright Prize: The Wainwright Prize was established in 2013 and is named in honour of Alfred Wainwright, author of the iconic Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells.
Further resources:
- Find past winners and shortlisted titles for the Wainwright Prize here.
- Ensure your pupils can keep up to date with environmental issues by taking out a school subscription to a junior newspaper or nature magazine. Find a selection here.
- Topical Talk provides free resources to encourage and stimulate discussion about current affairs and the news for KS2 pupils. Find a selection of their climate-related resources here.
- The Climate Fiction Writers League is a group of writers from around the world whose work aims to raise awareness of climate change. Their books include pictures books, middle grade and young adult fiction. You can find them here.
- Find further resources to help celebrate the natural world under the World Environment Day, Earth Day and World Oceans Day entries in the Literacy Year calendar.
- For a full listing of children’s book awards judged by adults, click here. Book awards judged by young people can be found here.
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