Oscar's Book Prize 2024
The submission period for the 2024 prize – our eleventh year – opened on Friday 1st December 2023 and closed on Monday 15th January 2024.
Thank you so much to everyone who entered! Each year we are truly humbled by the quality of submissions we receive, and the breadth of talent and imagination on display. We are so proud to champion these books, as well as the pleasure of reading them together.
Our amazing 2024 winner was revealed on 7th May 2024: When Dinosaurs Walked the Earth by Sean Taylor and Zehra Hicks! Please do check our News page or on our social channels for more information and to read all about this fabulous book.
The 2025 Prize will open in late 2024. While we update the Terms and Conditions each year, please feel free to read the 2024 rules below for reference, and to check whether a book is eligible.
When the submission period is active, you will be able to click through directly to our digital entry form below. We also ask entrants to please send one digital copy of each submitted title to either robyn@oscarsbookprize.co.uk or laura@oscarsbookprize.co.uk to complete the submission.
Thank you so much for supporting the prize!
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1. Deadline
• The prize will accept submissions from 9am BST Friday 1st December 2023. The closing date for the receipt of submissions from publishers is 5pm BST, Monday 15th January 2024.
2. Rules of Eligibility
• Publishers may enter up to FIVE books per bona fide imprint. Collections and anthologies are not eligible.
• Books must be suitable for 0-5 year-olds
• Books must be first published in the UK between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023. Previously published books are not eligible.
• Books must be published by an established publishing house in the UK. ‘Established’ means a house that publishes a list of titles by a range of authors and distributes its books nationally through recognised high street booksellers and online retailers. Self-published books and e-books (when there is no physical edition) are not eligible.
• Books must be written in English; translations are not eligible.
• Books that are published or submitted posthumously are not eligible.
• Authors and illustrators must be of British nationality, or other nationals resident in the UK at time of entering. It is the responsibility of the publisher to ascertain this information before entering a book.
• Authors and illustrators (and their immediate families) must not be employees of the Evening Standard or Amazon.
• While books of all genres and for all ages within the 0-5 age bracket are eligible, please note that the Prize is seeking the best story and this should therefore be central to the book
• Oscar’s Book Prize’s decision on eligibility is final.
3. Publisher Requirements
• Publishers must ensure that they have obtained the authors’ and illustrators’ consent prior to entry.
• Publishers must also send a digital edition (e.g. a watermarked PDF) of each submitted book to info@oscarsbookprize.co.uk / laura@oscarsbookprize.co.uk / robyn@oscarsbookprize.co.uk. This is strictly for use during the longlisting process and will not be shared in any form beyond the longlist panel.
• Our longlist will be selected in February 2024. At that stage we will contact the relevant publishers and request 10 physical copies of each entered book. Details will follow nearer the time. We do not make the longlist public.
• Books MUST arrive by the given longlist deadline and must be finished editions (not galleys or proofs).
• Longlisted entries will not be returned. Oscar’s Book Prize will donate all books supplied as part of the competition that are not shortlisted to the charity Read for Good, or as it sees fit.
• Publishers must ensure that the shortlisted authors and illustrators are willing and able participate in publicity for the competition, including media interviews, providing material to use on the Prize’s social media and website, and attendance at the winner announcement in the event of a ceremony. The winner announcement will take place on 7th May 2024, and will be held either digitally or physically.
• Bios and high res author and/or illustrator photos must also be supplied to Oscar’s Book Prize within 7 days of notification that their title has been shortlisted.
• If requested, shortlisted and winning publishers will be provided with the digital files of the prize logo to use as a sticker image (whether as a printed sticker or incorporated onto the jacket artwork) on their shortlisted/winning title/s. All shortlisted/winner sticker artwork needs to be signed off by Oscar’s Book Prize to ensure it is compliant and appropriate. Please email designs to info@oscarsbookprize.co.uk / laura@oscarsbookprize.co.uk / robyn@oscarsbookprize.co.uk
• Shortlisted publishers will be asked to supply further physical copies of their books: one quantity (TBC) for Oscar’s Book Club (details to come in January) and 10 for promotional use (deadline and delivery address to follow). These must arrive within 7 days of being notified. If your title is in low stock, please notify us at longlist stage.
• Publishers MUST grant permission/be prepared to clear Rights for Oscar’s Book Prize to potentially create a ‘Jackanory’ style reading of their book should it win, which would be shared on social media and on the prize website.
4. Judging
• The longlist will be judged privately in early 2024 by a panel with a range of experience with EYFS children and/or the literary world. Their choices go on to the shortlist judging panel.
• The shortlist judges will be announced in early 2024. They will select a shortlist of at least five books, and from this one winning title. The shortlist will be announced in April 2024 and the winner on 7th May 2024.
• The winning book will be awarded prize money totalling £10,000.
• The author and illustrator of each shortlisted book will be given equal credit. In the event that a book with a separate author and illustrator wins, the prize money will be shared equally between the author and illustrator.
• All judges will be looking for the best pre-school book of the year that celebrates a child’s love for magical stories. The award’s definition of ‘magical stories’ includes but is not limited to: ‘captivating books that fire the imagination and give a wonderful shared reading experience through the mutual storytelling of words and pictures’.
• While the Prize seeks pre-school books, these books can appeal to children in primary school up to the end of KS1.
• The judges’ decision is final.
• No correspondence will be entered into.
For any questions about Oscar’s Book Prize, or if you’d like to be added to our mailing list, please contact the administrators Robyn Donaldson and Laura Mell: robyn@oscarsbookprize.co.uk and laura@oscarsbookprize.co.uk, or alternatively email info@oscarsbookprize.co.uk
