2019 Winners
For the Information Book Award 2019, the Overall Winner chosen by the judges was Politics for Beginners published by Usborne; whilst the children who voted for the Children’s Choice Overall Winner were in agreement with the judges – Politics for Beginners won both Overall Awards.
The winners for each age category in the Judge’s Award are as follows:
* Under 7: Hello, Horse by Vivian French and Catherine Rayner; published by Walker
* 7–12: Mary and Frankenstein by Linda Bailey and Júlia Sardà, published by Andersen
* 12–16: Politics for Beginners by Alex Frith, Rosie Hore, Louie Stowell and Kellan Stover; published by Usborne
The winners for each age category in the Children’s Choice Award are as follows:
* Under 7: Dogs in Space by Vix Southgate and Iris Deppe; published by Wren and Rook
* 7-12: When the Whales Walked by Dougal Dixon and Hannah Bailey published by words & pictures
* 12-16: Politics for Beginners by Alex Frith, Rosie Hore, Louie Stowell and Kellan Stover published by Usborne
In addition, a special commendation was given by the judges to Let’s Investigate Plastic Pollution by Ruth Owen published by Ruby Tuesday Books.
The Hachette Children’s Group Award for Outstanding Contribution to Information Books is given to an eminent UK writer or illustrator of information books for children, to mark an exceptional contribution to excellence in their field and the 2019 award was given to Marcia Williams.
Information Book Award
The Information Book Award is an annual event, in its ninth year, and is a major development for information books, and 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.