An illustration with giant books arranged into playful situations to become a swing and slide, with two energetic-looking characters swinging and sliding. The sky is orange and the ground is green. There are trees made of books, too.

Enter the Children’s Booker Prize

On this page you’ll find the publisher rules, eligibility criteria, deadlines and submissions process for entering the Children’s Booker Prize

The Children’s Booker Prize will be awarded annually by the Booker Prize Foundation to the best (in the opinion of the judges) eligible work of fiction for children aged eight to 12.

The work must be written by an author of any nationality, either originally in English or translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland.

Only publishers can submit entries to the Children’s Booker Prize. Authors, translators, illustrators and agents are not permitted to enter directly.

Illustration by Henri Campeã

Enter the Children’s Booker Prize 2027

Submissions for the Children’s Booker Prize 2027 are now open. Eligible works are those published between 1 November 2025 and 31 October 2026.

Rules

You can download the rules for entering the Children’s Booker Prize 2027 below. Please read them carefully before submitting any titles. 

Children’s Booker Prize 2027 rules and submission guidelines (pdf)

As this is the first year, please also find below some guidance on submissions and call-ins from Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation.

Letter to publishers from Gaby Wood, Chief Executive (pdf)

Deadlines

To assist the judges with the volume of reading required, please send submissions to the Booker Prize Foundation as soon as they are available and do not wait until the deadlines.

Books published between 01 November 2025 and 31 May 2026

All submission forms, physical copies, PDFs and additional assets must be submitted by 25 May 2026.

Books published between 1 June 2026 and 31 October 2026

All submission forms, physical copies, PDFs and additional assets must be submitted by 22 June 2026.

Call-ins (explained in the rules on page 8)

All call-in nomination forms, justification letters, first chapters and full PDFs must be submitted by 22 June 2026.

Final assets

Please ensure that you have supplied final versions of your print and digital assets for all of your titles by 14 August 2026. These will be utilised to prepare for the public shortlist announcement in November 2026.

If any of these deadlines present a problem, please email: [email protected]