Winners of The Week Junior Book Awards 2024 announced

14 outstanding children’s books honoured in a heartwarming celebration of authors, illustrators and publishers

The Week Junior
(Image credit: Future)

The winners of The Week Junior Book Awards 2024, brought to you by The Week Junior and The Bookseller, with partners WHSmith, World Book Day and LoveReading4Kids have been revealed at an awards ceremony hosted by tv and radio presenter Fee Mack at County Hall in London. 14 books were crowned from over 450 entries, with two of the awards – Children’s Choice and Children’s Book Cover of the Year – voted for by readers of The Week Junior.

View the full list of winners, judges comments and more here.

The expert judging panel included teachers, booksellers and literacy champions along with former Children’s Laureate, Joseph Coelho, Newsround presenter Ricky Boleto, award-winning author-illustrator Nadia Shireen, author and Place2Be ambassador, Sophie Dahl and teacher and TV personality Bobby Seagull.

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Now in its second year, the awards were created to address the need for greater mainstream discourse around children’s literature and the lifelong benefits of reading for pleasure. They celebrate the remarkable work of both emerging and established children’s authors, illustrators and publishers, and bring their work to the attention of The Week Junior’s avid young readers and their families.

Editorial director of The Week Junior, Anna Bassi says, “We’re delighted to honour these incredible books and their power to bring pleasure to children through words, pictures, ideas and imagination. The line-up boasts extraordinary stories, compelling characters, fascinating facts, incredible illustrations and useful advice. With awards for both fiction and non-fiction and subjects spanning everything from dinosaurs to the digestive system, there is something here for every young reader – even those who say they don’t like reading.”

New award categories for 2024 included Poetry, Picture Book, Animals and Nature, Wellbeing, Hobbies and Interests, and Graphic Novel. These were incorporated in response to feedback from publishers and to reflect the passions and interests of The Week Junior’s readers. 

Some of the award-winning authors will be appearing at The Week Junior Book Festival, during the school half-term on 29 October at Barbican Centre, London.

Full list of winners

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR: BREAKTHROUGH

My Name is Sunshine Simpson

Author: G.M. Linton, illustrator: Fuuji Takashi, publisher: Usborne

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR: GRAPHIC NOVEL

Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir

Author and illustrator: Pedro Martin, publisher: Guppy Books

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR: YOUNGER FICTION

Pizza Pete and the Perilous Potions

Author: Carrie Sellon, illustrator: Sarah Horne, publisher: Guppy Books

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR: OLDER FICTION

Safiyyah’s War

Author: Hiba Noor Khan, publisher: Andersen Press

Highly commended

Kofi and the Rap Battle Summer

Author: Jeffrey Boakye, publisher: Faber

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR: HOBBIES AND INTERESTS

Rhinoceros Can’t Draw… But You Can!

Author: Luke Newell, illustrator: Luke Newell & Mr Griff, publisher: Noodle Juice

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR: NON-FICTION

Welcome to Our Table: A Celebration of What Children Eat Everywhere.

Author: Laura Mucha & Ed Smith, illustrator: Harriet Lynas, publisher: Nosy Crow

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR: STEM (in association with The Week Junior Science+Nature)

Where Are You Really From?

Author: Adam Rutherford and E.L.Norry, illustrator: Adam Ming, publisher: Hachette Children’s Group

Highly commended

Wonderfully Wired Brains

Author: Louise Gooding, illustrator: Ruth Burrows, publisher: DK

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR: ANIMALS AND NATURE

The Tyrannosaur’s Feathers

Author: Jonathan Emmett & Dr Adam S. Smith, illustrator: Stieven Van der Poorten, publisher: UCLan

CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK OF THE YEAR

Amy Gets Eaten

Author: Adam Kay, illustrator: Henry Paker, publisher: Penguin Random House

Highly commended

Gigantic

Author and illustrator: Rob Biddulph, publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books

CHILDREN’S AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR

Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Ruling the World

Author: Louie Stowell, narrator: Ben Willbond, publisher: W.F. Howes

Highly commended

Animal Tales from India: Ten Stories from the Panchatantra

Author and narrator: Nikita Gill, publisher: Nosy Crow

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR: POETRY

A Dinosaur at the Bus Stop: Poems to Have Fun With

Author: Kate Wakeling, illustrator: Eilidh Muldoon, publisher: Otter-Barry Books

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR: WELLBEING

Friendship Survival Guide

Author: Caroline Young, illustrator: Various, publisher: Usborne

Highly commended

My Family, Your Family

Author: Laura Henry-Allain MBE, illustrator: Giovana Medeiros, publisher: Penguin Random House

CHILDREN’S CHOICE

Guinness World Records 2024

Author: Craig Glenday (Editor-in-chief), cover designer: Rod Hunt, publisher: Guinness World Records

CHILDREN’S BOOK COVER OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Publiship)

The Kingdom Over the Sea

Author: Zohra Nabi, cover designed and illustrated by: Tom Clohosy Cole, publisher: Simon & Schuster

Explore More

The Week's sister publication, The Week Junior, is an award-winning current affairs magazine for eight to 14-year-olds. Inside every issue, children will discover amazing facts, explore world events, and be inspired by ideas and stories that spark family conversations and nurture curiosity.


It's the perfect way to give children a safe and inspiring window to the world - showing them all the amazing and inspiring things that are happening around them every day. To learn more, please visit TheWeekJunior.co.uk.

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