The 2020 shortlist for Oscar’s Book Prize, the annual prize for the best book of the year for under 5’s has been revealed. For the first time, six books are in the running for this year’s £5,000 award after 128 entries were submitted by children’s writers and illustrators from across the UK since the competition went live at the beginning of the year.
The award that was created to honour the passing of Oscar Ashton is supported by Amazon and the National Literacy Trust. Authors Dermot O’Leary, Francesca Simon, Jake Hope, Youth Group Libraries chair and Simon Johnson, Amazon Director of EU Books and Oscar’s parents Viveka Alvestrand and James Ashton completed the judging panel and added the following entries to their shortlist:
- Tad by Benji Davies (HarperCollins)
- The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros (Nosy Crow)
- A Mouse Called Julian by Joe Todd Stanton (Flying Eye Books)
- Alphonse, There’s Mud on the Ceiling! by Daisy Hirst (Walker Books)
- I Am a Tiger by Karl Newson and Ross Collins (Macmillan)
- The Runaway Pea by Kjartan Poskitt and Alex Willmore (Simon & Schuster)
“It was an honour to have the opportunity to read through such an incredible set of books this year. I encourage parents to use all six of our shortlist to read with their kids and unlock the magic of storytelling.”
– Dermot O’Leary
The winner will be revealed on Monday, May 25th, on the Oscar’s Book Prize website announced by the award’s patron, HRH Princess Beatrice, who has supported the award since 2017.
“The quality of stories gets better and better each year, and I would like to congratulate each author. The shortlisted books share stories of positivity, togetherness and friendship, which are important messages to teach children at an early age.”
– Amazon Director of EU Books Simon Johnson
Did any of our readers enter the competition after we announced it in January? We’d love to hear about it!
