D-Day Dog is the Overall Winner of the Children’s Book Award for 2020

D-Day Dog, written by Tom Palmer and published by Barrington Stoke, was revealed as the Overall Winner of the CBA for 2020 in an online ceremony on 10th October. It also won the Confident Readers category.

The other category winners were:

Books for Younger Children : The Runaway Pea, written by Kjartan Poskitt and illustrated by Alex Willmore, published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Books

Books for Younger Readers : Mutant Zombies Cursed My School Trip, written by Matt Brown and illustrated by Paco Sordo, published by Usborne

Books for Older Readers : On The Come Up, written by Angie Thomas, published by Walker Books

We are hugely grateful for the financial support of the Ragdoll Foundation and the Jean Russell Gift to produce the ceremony video, which has enabled us to reach a whole new audience outside the FCBG.

The ceremony is still available to view here. As well as the announcement of the winners, hosts Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve also share an exclusive story about Kevin the roly-poly flying pony – written especially for the occasion! – and Sarah shares a drawing masterclass.

The Children’s Book Award 2020 shortlist

This year as part of our 40th anniversary celebrations and due to the number of highly-rated books for older readers, we decided to add an additional category to the shortlists. For this year the categories will be Books for Younger Children, Books for Younger Readers, Books for Confident Readers and Books for Older Readers, with three titles in each category. We have created short films to showcase each book, including introductions from the authors and illustrators and responses from the children in the FCBG’s local groups. To watch each film click on the book title. Captions are available.

Books for Younger Children

Jazz Dog, written and illustrated by Marie Voigt, published by OUP

Matisse’s Magical Trail, written by Tim Hopgood and illustrated by Sam Boughton, published by OUP

The Runaway Pea, written by Kjartan Poskitt and illustrated by Alex Willmore, published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Books

Books for Younger Readers

Mutant Zombies Cursed My School Trip, written by Matt Brown and illustrated by Paco Sordo, published by Usborne

Owen and The Soldier, written by Lisa Thompson, published by Barrington Stoke

The Maker of Monsters, written by Lorraine Gregory, published by OUP

Books for Confident Readers

Wildspark, written by Vashti Hardy, published by Scholastic

A Pocketful of Stars, written by Aisha Bushby, published by Egmont

D-Day Dog, written by Tom Palmer, published by Barrington Stoke

Books for Older Readers

Becoming Dinah, written by Kit de Waal, published by Hachette Children’s Group

On The Come Up, written by Angie Thomas, published by Walker Books

Two Can Keep a Secret, written by Karen M McManus, published by Penguin

Video production and editing by Steph J Weller and AV Events. Captions by Vicky Berry. Thanks to all the authors, publishers and book groups who contributed.

Love one of these books? Let the authors and illustrators know!

Every year, each author and illustrator on the shortlist receives a personalised album full of messages and pictures about their book. Normally these “portfolios” are put together by the children of the FCBG, but this year we’re opening it up to any child in the UK who has loved one or more of the books on the shortlist. If you would like to submit something, here are the details:

Content: each submission should feature one book only and include only those personal details you are happy to share

Maximum size: A4

Deadline: Saturday 31st October

Send by mail: FCBG Children’s Book Award, 32 Washington Road, Caversham, Reading RG4 5AA

Send by email: childrensbookaward@fcbg.org.uk

About the Children’s Book Award

The Children’s Book Award is the only national award voted for solely by children from start to finish. It is highly regarded by parents, teachers, librarians, publishers and children’s authors and illustrators as it truly represents the children’s choice. Thanks to the support of the publishers, around 800 new books are donated to be read and reviewed by our Testing Groups across the country every year, with over 100,000 total votes being cast in the process. At the end of each testing year, around 10,000 books are donated to hospitals, women’s refuges, nurseries and disadvantaged schools by our groups.

For information about our 2019 winners see http://childrensbookaward.org.uk/