Announcing the Winners: 2019 Children’s Book of the Year Awards

The CBCA has announced the 2019 Children’s Book of the Year Awards, highlighting the extraordinary creativity and talent of Australia’s children’s authors and illustrators.

Some of the themes covered by this year’s Winner and Honour Books include consumerism and the environment (The All New Must Have Orange 430 by Michael Speechley), the plight of refugees (The Mediterranean by Armin Greder) and asylum seekers held in detention (Between Us by Clare Atkins) and reconciliation (Sorry Day by Coral Vass). Shaun Tan’s Cicada is more a social commentary on working for the big corporates than a bedtime story.

“The authors recognised in this year’s Awards handle these themes unapologetically but with compassion and sensitivity through vibrant characters, compelling storylines and in the case of picture books, stunning illustrations in a range of artistic media and styles, “said CBCA National Chair Professor Margot Hillel OAM

The 2019 Book of the Year saw a record 488 entries of which more than 100 were from first-time creators. The Early Childhood category received the largest ever number of entries, representing a wide range of choices for pre and beginning readers, an important phase in a child’s reading life.

Books from acclaimed Australian authors Emily Rodda AC, Alison Lester AM and Shaun Tan feature on the Winner and Honour List, in addition to debut titles from emerging talent such as Black Cockatoo (Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler), Small Spaces (Sarah Epstein), The All New Must Have Orange 430 (Michael Speechley) and Grandma Z (Daniel Gray-Barnett).

The 2019 CBCA Book of the Year Awards announcement, held today precedes CBCA Book Week which runs from 17 to 23 August and this year’s theme is Reading is My Secret Power. 

For the full list of the CBCA Book of the Year Winners and Honour Books and more detail about CBCA Book Week please visit the CBCA website here.

Congratulations to all the authors, illustrators and publishers that have been acknowledged at the awards today.

We were very pleased to see some of our favourites make the list. If you missed our earlier reviews for a selection of the Winner and Honour books you can catch up at the links below.

Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein, Lenny’s Book of Everything by Karen Foxlee,
His Name Was Walter by Emily Rodda, The Peacock Detectives by Carly Nugent and CICADA by Shaun Tan