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Children's Book Award 2023 Winners Announced
The Children’s Book Award 2023 winners – chosen and voted for entirely by children – are announced in a celebratory in-person awards ceremony. And Louie Stowell’s Loki, A Bad God’s Guide To Being Good – about the Norse god being banished to earth to live as an 11 year old schoolboy - comes 1st!
Louie Stowell is named overall winner of The Children’s Book Award 2023. Her book Loki, A Bad God’s Guide To Being Good also won the Books for Younger Readers category before going on to win the overall prize.
Dread Wood written by Jennifer Killick, won the Books for Older Readers Category, and Blobfish, written and illustrated by Olaf Falafel, was the Books for Younger Children category winner.
Loki, A Bad God’s Guide To Being Good tells the story of a Norse god who, after playing one trick too many, is banished to live on earth as a ‘normal’ schoolboy. Forbidden to use his immortal powers, Loki must exhibit ‘moral improvement’ ... but it’s clear from the entries in his magical diary (which judges everything...) that Loki hasn’t a clue how to tell good from evil, trust from tricks, or friends from foe.
Louie Stowell said, ‘Well, I hope you all know what you’ve done! Giving Loki this trophy... he is going to be unbearable! However, I’m really grateful. I cannot wait to get my acorn, and my – I think it’s a whole tree, actually! Maybe made of silver. Unfortunately, I think although I’m supposed to give that back at the end of the year, Loki may bury it somewhere, so look out for that. But thank you all so much!’
The Children’s Book Award is the only national award for children’s books that is voted for entirely by children. It is owned and coordinated by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups and is highly respected by teachers, parents and librarians. It has brought acclaim and strong sales to past winners such as J.K. Rowling, Patrick Ness, Andy Stanton, Malorie Blackman, Anthony Horowitz and Michael Morpurgo, who has won a record four times. The award has often been the first to recognise the future stars of children’s fiction and has the ability to turn popular authors into bestsellers.
A dedicated page on the FCBG website fcbg.org.uk/cba-home/ showcases all the shortlisted titles. The ceremony will also be available to view on the website once it has been live-streamed on 10th June.
The full shortlist for the Children’s Book Award 2023 is as follows:
Books for Younger Children
Blobfish - written and illustrated by Olaf Falafel, published by Walker Books
My Rhinoceros - written and illustrated by Jon Agee, published by Scallywag Press
The Blue-Footed Booby - written and illustrated by Rob Biddulph, published by HarperCollins
Where Has all the Cake Gone? - written by Andrew Sanders and illustrated by Aysha Awwad, published by Macmillan Children’s Books
Books for Younger Readers
Leonora Bolt Secret Inventor - written by Lucy Brandt and illustrated by Gladys Jose, published by Puffin
Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good - written and illustrated by Louie Stowell, published by Walker Books
Ollie Spark and the Accidental Adventure - written by Gillian Cross and illustrated by Alan Snow, published by David Fickling Books
Books for Older Readers
Dread Wood - written by Jennifer Killick, published by Farshore
The Light In Everything - written by Katya Balen, published by Bloomsbury
While The Storm Rages - written by Phil Earle, published by Andersen Press
Sarah Stuffins, Coordinator of The Children’s Book Award, says ‘Access to books is vital if children are going to read for pleasure - and reading for pleasure is proven time and again to be so important to child development. We at the FCBG are delighted to be helping truly fantastic books reach children up and down the country, and then more delighted still to see those children engaging with – and thoroughly enjoying – the stories. Many congratulations to all our worthy winners, and many thanks to every child that voted.’