UKLA Book Awards 2023 winners announced

Katya Balen (October, October), Manjeet Mann (The Crossing), Mariajo Ilustrajo (Flooded) and Jeffrey Boakye, illus Ngadi Smart (Musical Truth - A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs) have won the UKLA Book Awards 2023. The awards are judged by teachers and seek books from a wide and inclusive range of publishers, and for books which recognise a broad range of perspectives, experiences and voices.

UKLA Book Awards 2023 winners

3-6 Category

The 3-6+ category has been won by a stunning debut. Flooded by Mariajo Ilustrajo (Frances Lincoln), whose unique style, quirky illustrations and a great use of a limited colour palatte caught the judges' eye. They noted that this is a book which works on lots of different levels, with older children able to access the underlying political messages about awareness of the disadvantaged in society, while all ages will appreciate the humour and the need for communities to work together. It will also provide an excellent opportunity to talk about climate change, they said.

Find out more about Flooded from Mariajo Ilustrajo

7-11 Category

Katya Balen's winning book, The Light in Everything (Bloomsbury Children's Books), follows her win in 2022 for October, October with what the judges praised as an "exquisite" novel in 2023. The Light in Everything, is a "gut-wrenchingly emotional and relatable" story, the judges said, which gives a really authentic portrayal of a modern blended family and the difficulties faced by the children, as well as dealing very sensitively and appropriately with the difficult issue of domestic violence. Her powerful writing was also acknowledged by the judges and "the sophisticated but not condescending language" used by Balen was particularly commended by the judges.

Find out more from Katya Balen about The Light in Everything

11-14+ Category

The 11-14+ category features another returning winner, Manjeet Mann, who won the category in 2021 with her debut novel, Run Rebel, and and has won this year with her next novel, The Crossing. The judges commended The Crossing as an "important and powerful" verse novel and clever handling of the dual narrator perspective to reveal with "real emotional heart and soul" the topical and relevant tragedies of the refugee crisis. The verse novel format is really engaging and accessible, but also provides a thought-provoking read.

Find out more about The Crossing by Manjeet Mann

Both Katya and Manjeet received Emeritus medals for winning their categories twice.

Information Books 3-14+ Category

The judging criteria call for the selection to be from a "wide and inclusive range" of publishers and for books which "recognise a broad range of perspectives, experiences and voices" and this is certainly reflected in the outstanding books winning the Information Books 3-14+category, Musical Truth - A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs written by Jeffrey Boakye with illustrations by Ngadi Smart, for its uniquely accessible way to engage readers with Black History. Interesting, informative and powerful, the judges described the book as a "masterpiece".

The judges also wished to Highly Commend Here and Queer written by Rowan Ellis with "bright and engaging" illustrations by Jacky Sheridan. Described by the judges as informative, accessible and non-patronising, it is also fully accepting of difference and identities, and is based on "authentic, lived experiences", and was written to help overcome the isolation of the teen reader. 

Chris Lockwood, awards chair, said,  "It is a joy to hear the passion and enthusiasm from our teacher judges every year. They approach the job of choosing the winning books with enormous care and consideration about the impact of these books on the children and young people they teach. We are so lucky to have such wonderful shortlisted books to choose from “

From the 87 teacher judges involved in this process, 12 are nominated by their colleagues to go on to form the final judging panel which decides the eventual winners of the UKLA 2023 Book Awards.

For UKLA, giving classroom practitioners the opportunity to read high quality new children's books is as important as finding an overall winner. Research carried out by members of UKLA (Cremin et al 2008) clearly demonstrated the links between teachers' knowledge of children's books and the likelihood of pupils becoming successful readers. Despite this evidence, teachers are seldom given time to read new books or funding to purchase them when they do.

The Shortlists in full:

3-6+

Saving Mr Hoot written and illustrated by Helen Stephens (Alison Green)

Who are you? written by Smriti Halls and illustrated by Ali Pye (Farshore)

The Comet written and illustrated by Joe Todd- Stanton (Flying Eye)

Flooded written and illustrated by Mariajo Ilustrajo (Frances Lincoln)

Small's Big Dream written by Manjeet Mann and illustrated by Amanda Quartey (Harper Collins)

We're Going to Find the Monster written by Malorie Blackman and illustrated by Dapo Adeola (Puffin)

7-10+

All to Play For written by Eve Ainsworth and illustrated by Kirsty Beautyman (Barrington Stoke)

The Light in Everything written by Katya Balen (Bloomsbury)

The Lion Above the Door written by Onjali Q Raúf (Orion)

The Elephant in the Room written by Holly Goldberg Sloan (Piccadilly)

Little Light written by Coral Rumble (Troika)

The Chime Seekers written by Ross Montgomery (Walker)

11-14+

Tremendous Things written by Susin Nielsen (Andersen)

In the Wild Light written by Jeff Zentner (Andersen)

The Blue Book of Nebo written by Manon Steffan Ros (Firefly)

Truth Be Told written by Sue Divin (Macmillan)

Julia and the Shark written by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and illustrated by Tom de Freston (Orion)

The Crossing written by Manjeet Mann (Penguin)

Information Books 3-14+

Musical Truth: A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs written by Jeffrey Boakye and illustrated by Ngadi Smart (Faber)

Amazon River written by Sangma Francis illustrated by Rômolo D'Hipólito (Flying Eye)

Bandoola: The Great Elephant Rescue written and illustrated by William Grill (Flying Eye)

Here and Queer written by Rowan Ellis and illustrated by Jacky Sheridan (Frances Lincoln)

The Greatest Show on Earth written and illustrated by Mini Grey (Puffin)

I am the Subway written and illustrated by Kim Hyo-eun. Translated by Deborah Smith (Scribble)