Oscar's Book Prize facts for kids
Oscar's Book Prize is a special award given each year to a wonderful children's book. This prize is for books made for very young children, usually those who are still in pre-school. To be considered, the book must have been first published in the UK during the year before the award.
The prize was started in 2014 by James Ashton and Viveka Alvestrand. They created it to remember their son, Oscar Ashton, who sadly passed away in 2012 when he was only three years old. The prize celebrates how much children love magical stories. It also wants to show how important it is to read with children and to reward the amazing people who create books for young readers.
The Oscar's Book Prize is supported by the London Evening Standard newspaper. It also gets help from Amazon and the National Literacy Trust, which is an organization that helps people with reading and writing. Princess Beatrice is a patron of the prize, which means she supports it. In 2015, the famous actor Gillian Anderson was one of the judges. When the prize first started, the winner received £5,000. In 2021, this amount was increased to £10,000, which is a lot of money for a book!
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Past Winners of Oscar's Book Prize
Each year, a fantastic book is chosen as the winner of Oscar's Book Prize. Many other great books are also chosen for a "shortlist," which means they were among the best books considered for the award.
2014 Winner
The very first Oscar's Book Prize in 2014 was given to Benji Davies for his book The Storm Whale.
Shortlisted Books 2014
- Open Very Carefully by Nick Bromley and Nicola O'Byrne
- The Black Rabbit by Philippa Leathers
- The Snatchabook by Helen Docherty and Thomas Docherty
- The Storm Whale by Benji Davies
- Spaghetti with the Yeti by Charlotte Guillain, Adam Guillain, and Lee Wildish
2015 Winner
In 2015, the prize went to Steve Antony for his book The Queen's Hat.
Shortlisted Books 2015
- Dangerous! by Tim Warnes
- Hedgehugs by Steve Wilson and Lucy Tapper
- The Queen's Hat by Steve Antony
- The Sea Tiger by Victoria Turnbull
- This Book Just Ate My Dog! by Richard Byrne
2016 Winner
The 2016 prize was awarded to Gemma Merino for her book The Cow Who Climbed a Tree.
Shortlisted Books 2016
- Hector And Hummingbird by Nicholas John Frith
- Sir Lilypad by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie
- The Cow Who Climbed A Tree by Gemma Merino
- The Fox And The Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith
- The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
2017 Winner
In 2017, the winners were Rachel Bright and Jim Field for their book The Koala Who Could.
Shortlisted Books 2017
- Hello, Mr Dodo by Nicholas John Frith
- Odd Dog Out by Rob Biddulph
- The Knight Who Wouldn't Fight by Helen Docherty and Thomas Docherty
- The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
- There's A Tiger In The Garden by Lizzy Stewart
2018 Winner
The 2018 prize was given to John Dougherty and Laura Hughes for their book There's a Pig Up My Nose.
Shortlisted Books 2018
- Lucie Goose by Danny Baker and Pippa Curnick
- That Bear Can't Babysit by Ruth Quayle and Alison Friend
- The Secret of Black Rock by Joe Todd Stanton
- There's a Pig Up My Nose by John Dougherty and Laura Hughes
- Sunk! by Rob Biddulph
2019 Winner
The 2019 prize was awarded to Ed Vere for his book How to be a Lion.
Shortlisted Books 2019
- Almost Anything by Sophie Henn
- Ruby's Worry by Tom Percival
- The Way Home for Wolf by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
- How to be a Lion by Ed Vere
- Baby’s First Bank Heist by Jim Whalley and Stephen Collins
2020 Winner
In 2020, Benji Davies won the prize again, this time for his book Tad.
Shortlisted Books 2020
- The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros
- A Mouse Called Julian by Joe Todd Stanton
- Alphonse, There’s Mud on the Ceiling! by Daisy Hirst
- I Am a Tiger by Karl Newson and Ross Collins
- The Runaway Pea by Kjartan Poskitt and Alex Willmore
- Tad by Benji Davies
2021 Winner
The 2021 prize was given to Lu Fraser and illustrator Kate Hindley for their book The Littlest Yak.
Shortlisted Books 2021
- I’m Sticking with you by Smriti Halls and Steve Small
- Meesha Makes Friends by Tom Percival
- Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Halls and David Litchfield
- The Hospital Dog by Julia Donaldson and Sara Ogilvie
- The Littlest Yak by Lu Fraser and Kate Hindley
- Would You Like A Banana by Yasmeen Ismail
