The Booker Prize, renowned for championing new literary voices for 56 years, is launching a dedicated children’s award for readers aged eight to 12. The inaugural Children’s Booker Prize will be chaired by author Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who expressed hope that the award will make a real difference to children’s lives at a crucial time when daily reading among children has hit a 20-year low.
The prize aims to bring the same energy and boldness to children’s fiction as the main Booker has done for adult literature. Cottrell-Boyce emphasised that every child deserves the chance to become a reader, and the award will help throw open the doors to the vibrant world of current children’s books, from Jamie Smart’s Bunny vs Monkeys to Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures.
A key feature of the Children’s Booker is the inclusion of children on the judging committee, a move designed to engage young readers directly. The programme will also involve gifting thousands of books to children who would not otherwise have access to them, addressing the decline in reading for pleasure.
Cottrell-Boyce highlighted the importance of reading for building happiness and resilience, recalling an encounter with Swiss author Mariella Mehr, who credited reading Heidi with giving her hope in a brutal upbringing. He believes stories can dynamite walls of class, race, and gender, and that the Children’s Booker sends a vital signal to children: you matter.
