The 2027 Book Awards showcase the range, depth and quality of UK Children’s Publishing.

The unique and highly regarded UKLA Book Awards, the only national awards judged by teachers, have three age categories for fiction and poetry and a category for Information books, which makes them particularly useful for their colleagues in schools around the UK, who can easily identify what will be suited to their own classroom. Featuring books in translation, past winners, exciting debuts and a huge range of genres, topics and themes, the longlists published today showcase high-quality children’s books that can reflect all identities and promote diversity, and are ones that every teacher, who wants to inspire a passion for reading for pleasure, needs in their school.

For Awards sponsor, Nikki Gamble of The Reading Journey, “The UKLA Book Awards are significant not only for the recognition and celebration of high-quality literature for children, but also for the underpinning principle that teachers’ knowledge of children’s books is fundamental to creating readers in classrooms. At a time when there is much talk about a crisis in reading for pleasure, we should pause to reflect on the teachers who are helping to buck this trend and how they achieve positive outcomes.”

With more than 100 submissions in each category, competition to gain a place in the four longlists published today, is intense. The selection panels, comprising experienced past teacher judges, ex-teachers, librarians, and consultants are presented with a significant reading challenge over the summer and some difficult decisions. But as teacher Kerry Hudson, said: " Longlisting is a highlight of my teaching calendar. I get to immerse myself in wonderful children’s literature, in all its richness and diversity. It provides the opportunity to discuss with colleagues, challenge opinions and think of how the texts could be used in the classroom. I always end the process with a renewed excitement for the forthcoming school year, full of books to share with colleagues and my children alike, and characters and storylines that stay with me long after they have been read."

The UKLA awards are remarkable also for being completely uninfluenced by any commercial factors, such as sales or expensive marketing campaigns, and they do not require the payment of fees at any point in the process. This significantly opens up the process to small independent publishers, giving them the opportunity to promote their books in the valuable school market. Once again, small imprints like Troika Books, Scallywag Press, Magic Cat, Everything with Words and Old Barn Books have secured places and Cicada Books, this time, achieved the remarkable feat of having all three of their submissions longlisted in the Information category.

Ziggy Hanaor, Cicada's founder said “As a small, independent publisher, it means so much to have three of our books longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards this year. At Cicada, we take risks, champion emerging illustration talent and try to make books that do things differently. In a publishing world full of big sharks, it’s wonderful to have UKLA on the side of the feisty little fish”.

UKLA’s eligibility criteria allow submissions from international publishers with a UK distributor and so books from Little Island, Greenwillow, Clarion and Greystone Kids add an international flavour to the longlists. More familiar names are also well represented with Walker Books again the most successful publisher overall, having a total of eight books longlisted across the categories. Penguin Random House, with six books longlisted, are the only publisher to be successful in every category and yet, perhaps the most remarkable publishing achievement comes from Catch a Leaf Publishing.

"Catch a Leaf is a tiny and very new-to-publishing team, so the news that one of our titles has been longlisted in the UKLA Book Awards feels like the ultimate validation of all the hard work we put in – it shows that even the smallest fish in a big pond can sparkle! To be selected is also extra special because the judging panel consists of teachers, librarians and readers of books – it's not about marketing or promotional spend, but simply whether these important people see value in a book. We are thrilled." Franziska Green, Editor, Catch a Leaf Publishing.

Awards Chair, Christine Lockwood, said “Our four teams of longlisting judges, one for each Book Awards category, have been reading non-stop over a hot summer. From the many wonderful books submitted by publishers, they have chosen a selection of twenty brilliant books per category to present to our four teams of teacher judges at a launch meeting in Manchester on September 19th. These books now pass to the 89 teacher judges to read, share with their colleagues and classes, and discuss in depth within their Book Groups. In March we will meet again, to decide on shortlists of six per category – I know that the teacher judges are going to have a wonderful time!”

As Nikki Gamble concluded “The Reading Journey from Just Imagine is thrilled to be sponsoring the UKLA Book Awards again this year. The teachers judging these awards bring their knowledge of the classroom and an understanding of how some books have the capacity to change lives. But they also learn and grow through the judging process and by sharing their knowledge and expertise with colleagues across the age phases. This repository of excellence continues to impact teachers and children across the education community after the judging process is completed.

The books on the longlist are a testament to the teachers’ thoughtful deliberations. The longlists represent the best in publishing for children, from brilliant and lively storytelling in words and pictures to illuminating and thoughtfully designed nonfiction that opens up new worlds, always with the child reader at the centre. The authors, illustrators, designers and editors who have lavished such care in creating these books must be applauded. Each one could be a winner, and we look forward to seeing the judges' final choices in July.”