What are the Children’s Choice Awards?
The IBC Children’s Choice Awards give children the exciting opportunity to shadow the IBC Awards, acting as judges by reading the shortlisted books and voting for their favourites.
The scheme aims to engage children in fun reading activities that mirror the IBC Awards process. They have just over 5 weeks to read and judge the books, from Wednesday 6 January to Monday 15 February 2027.
Registration for the shadowing process is now open. Click the link below to sign up.
How to participate
1. Register here for the IBC Children’s Choice Awards.
2. Buy the books. For schools or libraries ordering via Peters, our official partner, pre-order the books here. If you are ordering from elsewhere, please consider using our affiliate links at Bookshop.org or Amazon via our website to support our work. These links will be available here and on our booklist page for the shortlist when it is announced on 6 January.
3. Read the books with the children. You have just over 5 weeks to read up to 5 books in your selected category, starting Wednesday 6 January 2027. For guidance on how to run the Children’s Choice Awards successfully in your setting, visit our blog for lots of creative ideas.
4. Vote for your winner! Links will be shared when voting is underway.
The deadline for casting your vote is midday (GMT) on Monday 15 February.
Register for the IBC Children’s Choice Awards 2027!
FREE downloads
We’ve put together a range of downloadable child-friendly resources to make the shadowing process easy for you and your children. These will be available at the start of the shadowing process, so please check back in January. The resources include:
- Book Talk Cards for each shortlisted title by children’s book specialists Peters, packed with useful discussion prompts
- Quick Guide for Activity Leaders
- Voting slips to make it easy and fun to organise the casting and counting of votes
- Editable certificate for all participants
- Bookmarks and stickers available on request for those not ordering books via our offical partner Peters (see below)
Please email sophie@inclusivebooksforchildren.org by the end of Tuesday 2 February, stating your name, address and the quantity of bookmarks and stickers required (unless you are ordering from Peters, in which case tell them instead).
Why participants love taking part
Who can participate?
Children in any setting can participate, supported by an adult. For example, any teacher, librarian, parent or caregiver can register to participate in the Children’s Choice Awards on behalf of one child or a group.
What age range is this for?
Children of any age can take part in the Children’s Choice Awards with adult direction. There are two book award categories to choose from:
- Picture Books (3–7)
- Highly Illustrated Children’s Fiction (5–9)
The above age brackets are for loose guidance only. In particular, children aged 7 and over are welcome to participate in the Picture Book shadowing process. Likewise, children aged 9 and over can take part in Children’s Fiction shadowing.
Winners and prizes
The authors and illustrators of the winning books will be announced at the IBC Awards ceremony in February.
Each winner will be presented with a trophy and a gift of £250 worth of books made in their name to the school of their choice.
The ceremony will take place in the evening and will be livestreamed. As Children’s Choice Awards participants, your children will be sent a special video message from the winners shortly after the ceremony.
Why we run the Children’s Choice Awards?
As a registered literacy charity, we aim to help parents, teachers and librarians source diverse and inclusive books for children.
Our annual IBC Awards highlight outstanding new children’s literature for the under-9s in three categories, rewarding children’s authors and illustrators with a shared prize fund of £30K. The Children’s Choice Awards run in tandem with these main book awards. The shadowing scheme is designed to excite children about reading, motivating them to engage with a broader range of books.
The scheme followed the release of The National Literacy Trust’s annual reading survey, revealing children’s reading for pleasure is at its lowest in two decades, with only ‘1 in 3 (32.7%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 enjoying reading in their free time in 2025’, a 36% drop since 2005.
For more information about IBC and the work we do, check out our About us page, inclusive book reviews and recommendations, and thematic booklists curated by experts.
No book budget?
We allocate 10 free sets of shortlisted books to applicants who make a compelling case for receiving them.
If you are interested in this for your setting, please apply here. The deadline for applications is 5pm (GMT) on Tuesday 15 December 2026.
Got questions?
If you still have questions, email sophie@inclusivebooksforchildren.org.