Oscar's Book Prize is a British children's book prize awarded annually to a book for pre-school age children, which was first published in the UK during the previous calendar year. The £5,000 prize is supported by the London Evening Standard and sponsored by Amazon and the National Literacy Trust, its patron is Princess Beatrice.[1][2] Actor Gillian Anderson was one of the judges for the 2015 prize.[3] In 2021, the prize money was raised to £10,000.[4]

The prize was founded in 2014 by James Ashton and Viveka Alvestrand in memory of their three-year-old son Oscar Ashton who died unexpectedly in 2012. It aims to celebrate a child's love for magical stories and to reward the creativity of early-years literature and to highlight the importance of reading with children.[2][5]

2014

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The 2014 prize was awarded to Benji Davies for The Storm Whale.[6]

Shortlisted Books List[6]

Title Author(s)
Open Very Carefully Nick Bromley and Nicola O'Byrne
The Black Rabbit Philippa Leathers
The Snatchabook Helen Docherty and Thomas Docherty
The Storm Whale Benji Davies
Spaghetti with the Yeti Charlotte Guillain, Adam Guillain, and Lee Wildish

2015

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The 2015 prize was awarded to Steve Antony for The Queen's Hat.[6]

Shortlisted Books List[6]

Title Author(s)
Dangerous! Tim Warnes
Hedgehugs Steve Wilson and Lucy Tapper
The Queen's Hat Steve Antony
The Sea Tiger Victoria Turnbull
This Book Just Ate My Dog! Richard Byrne

2016

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The 2016 prize was awarded to Gemma Merino for The Cow Who Climbed a Tree.[6]

Shortlisted Books List[7]

Title Author(s)
Hector And Hummingbird Nicholas John Frith
Sir Lilypad Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie
The Cow Who Climbed A Tree Gemma Merino
The Fox And The Star Coralie Bickford-Smith
The Lion Inside Rachel Bright and Jim Field

2017

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The 2017 prize was awarded to Rachel Bright and Jim Field for The Koala Who Could.[6][8]

Shortlisted Books List[9]

Title Author(s)
Hello, Mr Dodo Nicholas John Frith
Odd Dog Out Rob Biddulph
The Knight Who Wouldn't Fight Helen Docherty and Thomas Docherty
The Koala Who Could Rachel Bright and Jim Field
There's A Tiger In The Garden Lizzy Stewart

2018

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The 2018 prize was awarded to John Dougherty and Laura Hughes for There's a Pig Up My Nose.[6]

Shortlisted Books List[10]

Title Author(s)
Lucie Goose Danny Baker and Pippa Curnick
That Bear Can't Babysit Ruth Quayle and Alison Friend
The Secret of Black Rock Joe Todd Stanton
There's a Pig Up My Nose John Dougherty and Laura Hughes
Sunk! Rob Biddulph

2019

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The 2019 prize was awarded to Ed Vere for How to be a Lion.[6][11]

Shortlisted Books List[10]

Title Author(s)
Almost Anything Sophie Henn
Ruby's Worry Tom Percival
The Way Home for Wolf Rachel Bright and Jim Field
How to be a Lion Ed Vere
Baby’s First Bank Heist Jim Whalley and Stephen Collins

2020

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The 2020 prize was awarded to Benji Davies for Tad.[12]

Shortlisted Books List[13]

Title Author(s)
The Suitcase Chris Naylor-Ballesteros
A Mouse Called Julian Joe Todd Stanton
Alphonse, There’s Mud on the Ceiling! Daisy Hirst
I Am a Tiger Karl Newson and Ross Collins
The Runaway Pea Kjartan Poskitt and Alex Willmore
Tad Benji Davies

2021

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The 2021 prize was awarded to Lu Fraser and illustrator Kate Hindley for The Littlest Yak.[14]

Shortlisted Books List[15]

Title Author(s)
I’m Sticking with you Smriti Halls and Steve Small
Meesha Makes Friends Tom Percival
Rain Before Rainbows Smriti Halls and David Litchfield
The Hospital Dog Julia Donaldson and Sara Ogilvie
The Littlest Yak Lu Fraser and Kate Hindley
Would You Like A Banana by Yasmeen Ismail

References

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  1. ^ "Oscar's Book Prize". Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Oscar's Book Prize - Oscar". Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  3. ^ Eyre, Charlotte (10 February 2015). "Gillian Anderson joins Oscar's First Book judges". The Bookseller.
  4. ^ Dex, Robert (12 April 2021). "Oscar's Book Prize shortlist revealed - along with double the prize money". Evening Standard. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  5. ^ Ashton, James. "Announcing the Oscar's". The Bookseller. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "Oscar's Book Prize - Winners". Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  7. ^ "Oscar's Book Prize 2016: Beatrice battles it out for book prize shortlist". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  8. ^ Campbell, Lisa (16 May 2017). "The Koala Who Could wins Oscar's Book Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  9. ^ "Oscar's Book Prize 2017: final shortlist revealed". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  10. ^ a b "Oscar's Book Prize - News". Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  11. ^ Eyre, Charlotte (13 May 2019). "Ed Vere wins Oscar's Book Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Teaching Resources for Oscar's Book Prize 2020". CLPE. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  13. ^ Law, Katie (4 May 2020). "This is the shortlist for the Oscar's Book Prize 2020". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Fraser and Hindley win £10k Oscar's Book Prize". Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Oscar's Book Prize shortlist revealed!". National Literacy Trust. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
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