Longlists Announced for the 2026 UKLA Book Awards

By LoveReading4Kids | 16th September 2025

Featuring books in translation, past winners, exciting debuts and a huge range of genres, topics and themes, the UKLA 2026 longlists published today, for the only national children’s book awards judged by teachers, 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 Best Books for Schools, “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 a record number of submissions showing that an increasingly diverse range of publishers are keen to gain UKLA recognition for their books, competition to gain a place in the four category longlists published today, is intense. The longlist 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 headteacher Simon Smith, said: "Being part of the UKLA longlist judging panel has been a transformative experience—professionally, it sharpened my critical eye for quality literature and deepened my understanding of children's voices in reading; personally, it reignited my passion for storytelling and reminded me of the power books have to connect, challenge, and inspire."

Awards Chair, Christine Lockwood, said, “We always approach this difficult but exciting task with great anticipation. The longlisting team were challenged to select from a very rich and exceptional list of submissions this year and they have come up with four enticing longlists. It is always a joy to meet our committed, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic longlisters in person, after a long summer of reading and exchanging views online. I would like to thank them for their hard work and dedication. The longlists will now pass to our teams of teacher judges and their group leaders, drawn largely from Scotland but also from around the UK, and I can't wait to share these books with them over the next year."

About the UKLA Book Awards

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 the process to the small independent publishers, giving them the opportunity to promote their books in the valuable school market. There have been some outstanding successes this year. On an individual author level, both Katya Balen and Alex Latimer each have achieved two books longlisted across two categories and for Nathanael Lessore, this is his third year in a row to have a place on the 11-14+ longlist! With 95 imprints submitting across all four categories, it is quite remarkable to see Andersen Press succeed with all three of their 11-14+ submissions and for Macmillan, with Two Hoots, to have four titles on the Information books longlist. Walker Books are, once again, the most successful publisher overall with a remarkable seven books longlisted. But perhaps it is most extraordinary that a brand-new publisher, Post Wave Children’s Books, has three books selected in its first year of operation. Emma Hopkin, Managing Director said: “We couldn’t be prouder to have three books on the UKLA Book Awards in our first full year of publishing; and to have two of those in the Information category. Both these titles are in translation and support our commitment to acquiring the best books from around the world, that visually delight and help children discover the world around them. So, thank you to the judging panel, we are thrilled”

This year there are 85 judges covering the four categories and they have until mid-March to read the longlisted books, discuss them with their group leaders, and share them with pupils. All the groups will then meet for the difficult task of choosing their shortlist of 6 books in each category.

As Nikki Gamble concluded, “Best Books for Schools from Just Imagine is thrilled to be sponsoring the UKLA Book Awards 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.”