Children’s Book Council of Australia’s 2025 Book of the Year Awards

For this post, I chose to explore the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s (CBCA) 2025 Book of the Year Awards. Book awards such as this one, are great ways to identify and celebrate works of excellent literary merit, particularly if they gracefully explore complex themes such as morals, illness, gender, ethnicity or culture in a manner that is affirmative or educational (Kidd & Thomas, 2017). Considering that “Stories help children understand how society perceives their culture as well as the cultures of … others, thereby influencing their social and identity development.” (Naidoo, 2014, p. 1), this list provided me with a number of titles to further explore filling the gap of learning of notable or significant authors and titles relevant for younger readers. Having this knowledge now means that I can help them to find media that can benefit them in developing a unique sense of self, becoming informed of different perspectives to known or unknown issues and lessening stigma of sensitive topics. 

In the context of libraries, these awards can be beneficial to directing collection development, by purchasing notable titles listed to create a robust collection meeting community needs and organisational goals. However, book awards should not be the only deciding factor here but rather used as a tool in selecting additional resources that would be beneficial for children, parents or teachers to have free access to. The titles and authors listed in awards and shortlists such as those by the CBCA, can assist collection developers in working with suppliers to select books that offer new ideas or support the understanding of the “human experience” for children (appropriate for their ages) (Blackburn, 2016). By taking this into account, I could use some of the information presented in this award to offer purchase suggestions for the library’s collection, particularly if I am looking for ways to maintain a diverse collection in line with criteria from professional organisations or state libraries.

Apart from the obvious in seeing what titles are receiving awards, this activity left me with further questions about what other things are possible to be done with the awards and shortlists of the CBCA. I did some further research in this area and came across an ongoing project between the SLNSW and Caple & Tian (2021) that was exploring the diversity of themes and character representation in works selected by the CBCA. I feel this benefits my initial exploration of the CBCA 2025 Book of the Year Awards, as it highlights the further uses of such information in an academic setting, which in turn can be used for industry best practice to inform decision making regarding what would be best library communities, by information organisations and professionals. A practical example of in my future work with children and youth, it could be possible to display or compile a list of the winning or shortlisted titles that appear within the library collection. The aim of this would be to promote what is available for children and parents and encourage them to explore and read these books together, similarly like the work of Keane (2012) who published a book of notable titles selected from consulting school teachers and public librarians.

References

Blackburn, F. (2016). Using literary awards to build better library collections. INCITE, 37(11-12), 30-31.

Caple, H., & Tian, P. (2021). Examining the representation of diversity in early childhood picture books [Webinar]. Public Library Services, State Library of NSW. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilIXH1-EbQs

Keane, N. J. (2012). 101 great, ready-to-use book lists for children. Libraries Unlimited.

Kidd, K. B., & Thomas, J. T. (2017). Prizing children’s literature: The cultural politics of children’s book awards. Routledge.

Naidoo, J. C. (2014). The importance of diversity in library programs and material collections for children [White paper]. Association for Library Service to Children. https://www.ala.org/alsc/publications-resources/white-papers/importance-diversity

The Children’s Book Council of Australia. (2025). 2025 Book of the Year Awards – Winners [PDF]. https://cbca.org.au/2025-book-of-the-year-award-winners/