Little Rebels Award 2025 winner announced

Sarah Hagger Holt has won the Little Rebels Award 2015 for her novel The Fights That Make Us, a cross-generational story that honours the LGBTQ+ activists of the 1980s and 90s and their struggle against Section 28, and role of contemporary activists.

The organisers of the Little Rebels Award called The Fights That Make Us "a beacon of resistance in this current climate". Sarah Hagger-Holt is the award's first double winner, having taken the prize in 2022 for Proud of Me.

Phoebe Demeger, Librarian at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education and a Little Rebels Award Judge, described The Fights That Make Us as an "urgent book" that draws an "artful equivalence between section 28 and contemporary discrimination". Author, teacher and award judge, Alom Shaha, added, "This is the kind of book I'd put into the hands of young readers. I want to see this in schools."

The announcement was made by guest judge Chris Haughton at a ceremony at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. As well as a £2000 prize, funded by the Barry Amiel and Normal Melburn Trust, Hagger Holt received a limited edition print by Ken Wilson Max, commissioned by and exclusive to the award.

The Fights That Make Us synopsis: 

'Maybe there was a place in history for people like me, not on the edges of the story, but right in the centre.'  Jesse has recently come out as non-binary, and is struggling to find their place at school, and ideas for their project on lost stories from history. 35 years earlier, Jesse's cousin Lisa is falling for her best friend, but with new laws being introduced to restrict LGBT people's rights, they'll have to fight for the world to accept who they are.

When Jesse stumbles across Lisa's teenage diary, they are fascinated and horrified by her stories of living a secret life and protesting in the streets. Now it's Jesse's turn to find a way to shine a spotlight on a history that mustn't be forgotten.

Review:  "The Fights That Make Us encourages readers to engage with the difficulties faced by LGBTQ+ students in schools with empathy and to seek out tolerant solutions."

Here is the full shortlist for the Little Rebels Award 2025

This year's Little Rebels shortlist includes six titles that reflect back on queer histories and urgent social justice issues in the present:

Cottonopolis by S F Layzell (Northodox Press) features young, queer, working class protagonists in the slums of 1840s Little Ireland, Manchester

The Fights That Make Us by Sarah Hagger-Holt (Usborne), a novel about standing up for what you believe in, links the homophobic 1980s legislation, Section 28 and the subsequent acts of resistance with contemporary prejudice and protest

Keedie by Elle McNicoll (Knights Of) features a neurodiverse lead who takes on classroom bullying before tackling wider, oppressive social norms

Kende! Kende! Kende! Written by Kirsten Cappy & Yaya Gentille, illustrated by Rahana Dariah (Child's Play), is the only picture book on the shortlist and continues the award's long tradition of spotlighting refugee narratives

Mayowa and the Sea of Words by Chibundu Onuzo, with illustrations by Paula Zorite (Bloomsbury) features a young protagonist who pushes back against a anti-immigration bill that targets small boats

Zac and Jac by Cathy Jenkins, with illustrations by Monique Steele (Graffeg), offers a direct but subtle treatment of intergenerational racism.