Booker Prize Foundation Launches Children’s Book Award

The Booker Prize Foundation announced on 24 October the launch of a new Children’s Booker Prize for fiction, to be judged jointly by children and adult judges. The first nominations for this prestigious annual award will begin in 2026, and the prize will be awarded annually from 2027. The winner will receive £50,000 (approximately ₹59 lakh).

The award will recognize the best contemporary fiction for children aged 8 to 12, written in English or translated into English, and published in the UK and/or Ireland. Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, said, "The Children’s Booker is our most ambitious project in 20 years, and we hope its impact will last for decades."

Wood added that the prize is not just an award but part of a movement: "A purpose behind which children, parents, teachers, and storytellers around the world can stand." With support from the AKEO Foundation, at least 30,000 copies of selected and winning books will be gifted to ensure that as many children as possible can read the world's best stories.

British author Penelope Lively will deliver the keynote speech on the new children’s award at this year’s Booker Prize ceremony in London on 10 November. Indian author Kiran Desai has been shortlisted for her novel The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. She previously won the prize in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss.