The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has unveiled the winners of the 2021 Book of the Year Awards, in line with the 75th edition of its Children’s Book Week, which runs from 21 to 27 August.
This year’s awards received more than 500 entries from writers and illustrators from across the country. The submissions covered diverse genres, ranging from fiction and drama to non-fiction and poetry, and catered to readers aged 0 to 18 years old.
Davina Bell’s In the End of the World Is Bigger Than Love was awarded Book of the Year for Older Readers. The book tells the story of identical twin sisters living alone on a tiny island in a post-apocalyptic world.
Aster’s Good, Right Things by Kate Gordon, meanwhile, was the recipient of Book of the Year for Younger Readers. The story is about a young girl’s journey to greater self-worth after she felt her mother abandoned her because she was not good enough.
Rhyming cautionary tale No! Never! by mother-and-daughter team Libby Hathorn and Lisa Hathorn-Jarman and illustrated by Mel Pearce won Book of the Year of Early Childhood.
The other winners are How to Make a Bird written by Meg McKinlay and illustrated by Matt Ottley for Picture Book of the Year, Dry to Dry: The Seasons of Kakadu written by Pamela Freeman and illustrated by Liz Anelli for The Eve Pownall Award for non-fiction, and Zeno Sworder for New Illustrator for the environmental story This Small Blue Dot.
“You might say this 75th birthday is a diamond jubilee of sorts, and I am reminded of the brilliance and lustre of a diamond when I think how a carefully constructed story can light up the mind of a child,” said CBCA chair Wendy Rapee. “Our children’s imaginations, their wellbeing, their knowledge of the world around them, and their connections to each other have flourished because of these stories.”
CBCA’s Book of the Year Awards are among the most prestigious children’s literary awards in Australia. Rapee described the awards as the council’s way of celebrating writers and illustrators who “reflect the strength and diversity of children’s literature in Australia.”
The first edition was held in 1946, when only one Book of the Year was awarded. It has since expanded to six categories “to encourage excellence across a range of ages and genres,” according to the council.
Below is the complete roster of winning titles and honour books of CBCA’s 2021 Book of the Year Awards:
Older readers: winner
- The End of the World is Bigger than Love by Davina Bell
Older readers: honour books
- Metal Fish, Falling Snow by Cath Moore
- Where We Begin by Christie Nieman
Younger readers: winner
- Aster’s Good, Right Things by Kate Gordon
Younger readers: honour books
- The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst by written Jaclyn Moriarty and illustrated by Kelly Canby
- Worse Things written by Sally Murphy and illustrated by Sarah Davis
Early childhood: winner
- No! Never! written by Libby Hathorn and Lisa Hathorn-Jarman and illustrated by Mel Pearce
Early childhood: honour books
- Anemone is not the Enemy by Anna McGregor
- We Love You, Magoo by Briony Stewart
Picture books: winner
- How to Make a Bird written by Meg McKinlay and illustrated by Matt Ottley
Picture books: honour books
- Not Cute by Philip Bunting
- Your Birthday Was the Best! written by Maggie Hutchings and illustrated by Felicita Sala
Eve Pownall Award for non-fiction: winner
- Dry to Dry: The Seasons of Kakadu written by Pamela Freeman and illustrated by Liz Anelli
Eve Pownall Award for non-fiction: honour books
- The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals by Sami Bayly
- Strangers on Country written by David Hartley and Kirsty Murray and illustrated by Dub Leffler
CBCA Award for new illustrators: winner
- This Small Blue Dot by Zeno Sworder