Information Book Awards 2024

 

Reflections on the Non-fiction scene, viewed from the Information Book Awards 2024

 

I find it difficult to believe that I have been involved with this award for six years, five of them as chair of the judging panel. Over this time, we have looked at approximately 1000 information books; these range in age group from birth to age 16 years and cover a huge range of subjects. As a general thought, the themes seem to have moved slightly. Of course, we still have core interests such as dinosaurs, animals, sharks, history and science, but we are seeing more about the people involved in discovering information about these subjects. For instance, this year we had “Darwin’s super pooping worm spectacular” by Polly Owen and Gwen Millward as well as “We are all Astronauts” by Kate Pankhurst.

Looking through this year’s titles, there seem to strong representation in a variety of areas, especially around all aspects of diversity as well as titles about Africa and South Asia. These are themes that have been expanding over the last few years and we are thankfully seeing authors from increasingly diverse backgrounds. Another area that has been making a come back is that of the Arts; most of these titles are about fine art, but there are also books highlighting theatre and dance, especially our shortlisted “Dance” by Sir Alistair Spalding and Jason Raish. These are particularly welcome as there appears to be a growing understanding of how the arts can help the emotional wellbeing of young children.

Having a look into the future, I think that we are seeing a continuing growth in the areas that I have highlighted. There have been many excellent titles that I have seen this year and there are several that really stand out, however as they might find their way to the IBA next year, I will name no names. If we look at the history of illustration in information books, we find that photographs have been a favourite for school texts, whilst artwork has been used to provide a more friendly and less clinical feel to books, especially for younger readers. I do wonder what the impact of AI might be in the future, with its potential to create images that look real, but which are totally fake. I am sure this is being considered by both the publishers and the highly skilled artists who produce these wonderful illustrations. Let us hope that the creativity and skills of both the authors and illustrators continues to be recognised, rather than depending on what a computer is able to ‘create’.

I am delighted that the Information Book Award is going from strength to strength and particularly in developing the ‘Children’s Choice’ strand. This allows young people to look at the short lists and to vote for their own winners; it is a particular delight when the adult vote is replicated by the young people. There are awards for the winners of both strands and I know everyone is full of admiration for the young participants. The awards will be announced in November and I hope everyone is as delighted as the judges have been with the winners. Congratulations to all of them.

 

Many thanks to Margaret for taking part in NNFN this year. Good luck to all those on the shortlist!