About the Awards

Background

Leeds Book Awards started in 2009 and has evolved into a successful city wide initiative, run jointly between Leeds Libraries and School Library Service.

After a successful 10 years, we are now looking at how we can further grow and develop the Awards and will be announcing plans for our 2020 Leeds Book Awards in the Autumn.

Supporting a lifelong love of books will remain at the heart of our project. Further information about the aims of the Books Awards and the Selection Criteria can be found below

 

Aims of the Leeds Book Award

To inspire the development of a city of readers through:

  • Promoting libraries and encouraging reading for pleasure for all children
  • Celebrating the best of newly published children’s literature across all key stages
  • Championing books which celebrate diversity in terms of authorship, character, and/or genre
  • Increasing the awareness of teachers, librarians, parents and children of the world of children’s books and reading
  • Providing the opportunity for active participation of children and young people in reading, reviewing, debating and voting for their favourite books
  • Developing regular opportunities for children to meet and engage with children’s authors and illustrators


Award criteria and eligibility

  • The Award is for all newly published children's fiction books across all key stages of the curriculum (Foundation Stage; Key Stage 1, 2, 3 and 4)
  • Poetry, graphic novels, anthologies non- fiction and self published books are currently not included. Books published as part of a series are generally not considered (although the first in the series may be considered)
  • Translations published for the first time in the UK
  • To be eligible, all books must have been published in print in the UK between 1 January and 31 December of the previous year
  • The book must be written in English and be specifically published for children

Publisher Submissions

We are introducing two new categories for our 2020 Award – an Early Years category and a Key Stage 1 category and we are inviting publishers to submit books that they would like to see included on the shortlist for these categories.

Publishers are welcome to submit up to 4 books for each category. Books must meet the eligibility criteria, including having been published anytime between January 2019 – December 2019.  For further details about eligibility criteria see above.

 

Publishers are also welcome to send submissions for the other Book Award  categories (Key Stages 2, 3 and 4)  but these will be considered along with other books longlisted by our team of librarians.

 

If you would like to submit titles for consideration, particularly for the Early Years and Key Stage 1 categories,  please send your submissions by 15 November 2019 to

Kirsty Fenn

Leeds School Library Service

Queenswood Education Centre

Foxcroft Close

Leeds, LS6 3NT