The Information Book Award
This page contains the background for the IBA which takes place every year, and is now in its eleventh year!
See below for the latest news, or scroll down for background and information about how it works.
Latest news: Submissions open for 2021 IBA
The IBA 2021 is now open to publishers for submissions to consider for nominations for this award.
Please go to 2021 IBA page to read the criteria and submit titles.
Nominations open until 5th February 2021.
Information Book Award
The Information Book Award is an annual event, now in its eleventh year, and was a major development for information books. It has been designed to support school libraries and to reinforce the importance of non-fiction whilst highlighting the high standard of resources available.
As well as a panel of judges from education there is also the Children's Choice - where children vote for their favourites in each category and overall favourite - each winner is presented with a trophy. We release the shortlist with activities that can be easily implemented in a school library or classroom setting.
The Sponsor
The SLA Information Book Award is run entirely on sponsorship kindly donated by friends and supporters of the Award. No money is taken from the SLA budget so all staff time, the cost of the judging, prizes for the winners and the final award ceremony must be covered by the sponsors' donations.
The SLA Information Book Award is sponsored by Hachette Children's Group and is supported by Peters Books and Furniture.
Further Information
To find out more about the SLA Information Book Award, explore:
- How the Award works
- Resources to accompany the Award:
Useful guides, lesson plans and templates to help schools and reading groups work with Information Books
Background
The SLA Information Book Award is an annual event celebrating information books, and is designed to support school libraries and to reinforce the importance of non-fiction whilst highlighting the high standard of resources available.
The first award ceremony took place in 2011.
HOW THE AWARD WORKS
- The award is split into three separate categories: under 7s, 7-12 and 12-16.
- The judging panel consists of experienced librarians, SLA board members and a member of Peters Bookselling Services.
- Peters Bookselling Services supported the award by supplying packs of the short listed titles as an offer to schools.
- Children are invited to vote for their favourite book in the "Children's Choice" voting.
- Each section will have a winner, chosen by the panel, as well as a children’s choice winner.
- There will also be an overall winner, awarded to the best information book across all categories.
- The award is administered by the SLA.
- For a more detailed look into the judging process, read the article by Jayne Gould - "Judging the SLA Information Book Award" - written for Federation of Children's Book Groups.