Waterstones Children’s Book Prize
The Waterstones Children’s Book Prize is an annual award given to a work of children’s literature published during the previous year. First awarded in 2005, the purpose of the prize is “to uncover hidden talent in children’s writing” and is therefore open only to authors who have published no more than two or three books, depending on which category they are in. The prize is awarded by British book retailer Waterstones.
It was originally called the Ottakar’s Children’s Book Prize, after the bookshop chain. When all Ottakar’s stores were rebranded as Waterstones following the HMV Group takeover in 2006, the prize also changed its name to become the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.
Beginning in 2012, the prize was divided into three categories: Picture Books, Fiction 5–12, and Teen. Each category winner receives £2,000 with an overall winner chosen from the three getting an additional £3,000 (thus the overall winner receives £5,000 in total).
In 2016 the categories were renamed: Picture Books became Illustrated Books, Fiction 5–12 became Younger Fiction and the Teen category became Older Fiction.
- 2025 — “The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods” by Mikey Please
- 2024 — “Greenwild: The World Behind the Door” by Pari Thomson
- 2023 — “The Cats We Meet Along the Way” by Nadia Mikail
- 2022 — “The Last Bear” by Hannah Gold
- 2021 — “A Kind of Spark” by Elle McNicoll
- 2020 — “Look Up!” by Nathan Bryon
- 2019 — “The Boy at the Back of the Class” by Onjali Q. Rauf
- 2018 — “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas
- 2017 — “The Girl of Ink and Stars” by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
- 2016 — “My Brother the Superhero” by David solomon
- 2015 — “Blown Away” by Rob Biddulph
- 2018 — “Rooftoppers” by Katherine Rundell
- 2013 — “Ketchup Clouds” by Annabel Pitcher
- 2012 — “The Pirates Next Door” by Jonny Duddle
- 2011 — “Artichoke Hearts” by Sita Brahmachari
- 2010 — “The Great Hamster Massacre” by Katie Davies
- 2009 — “13 Treasures” by Michelle Harrison
- 2008 — “Ways to Live Forever” by Sally Nicholls
- 2007 — “Darkside” by Tom Becker
- 2006 — “The Diamond of Drury Lane” by Julia Golding
- 2005 — “The Cry of the Icemark” by Stuart Hill
