Africa

Alba Bouwer Prize (Alba Bouwerprys vir Kinderliteratuur): Recognizes outstanding children’s literature in Afrikaans; awarded triennially by the South African Academy of Science and the Arts

 

Children’s Africana Book Awards (CABA): Presented annually to authors and illustrators of the best children’s and young adult books on Africa published or republished in the U.S. The awards were created by Africa Access and the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association (ASA) to encourage the publication and use of accurate, balanced children’s materials about Africa

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CODE Burt Award: Recognizes excellence in young adult literature in three categories: African Young Adult Literature, Caribbean Young Adult Literature, and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit literature for young adults.

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The Golden Baobab Prize: Awarded annually to African writers of children's literature in three categories: early chapter books, picture books, and illustration. 

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The Scheepers Prize for Youth Literature (Scheepersprys vir Jeugliteratuur): Awarded every three years by the South African Academy of Science and Arts to promote high quality youth literature published in Afrikaans

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Australia

Children’s Book Council of Australia Children’s Book of the Year Awards: Books on Australia

 

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards: Inaugurated in 1982 to honor and celebrate the literary achievements of Western Australian writers, includes prizes for children's and young adult literature

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Basque

Euskadi Literary Prizes: Awards literary prizes in seven categories to works published in Basque, includes a children's and youth literature category

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Brazil

The FNLIJ Award: Administered by the Fundação Nacional do Livro Infantil e Juvenil (FNLIJ), the Brazilian section of IBBY, the FNLIJ Award is the highest distinction awarded to children’s and young adult literature in Brazil. Begun in 1975, the jury now awards prizes in 16 different categories.

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Canada

Aboriginal Children’s Book of the Year: There is not a specific link for this award, but running a Google search on the terms--in quotation marks--“Aboriginal Children’s Book of the Year” will provide books by indigenous artists from Canada.

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Alberta Literary Awards: Administered by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, these awards recognize outstanding Alberta writing; includes the R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature

 

​Atlantic Book Awards: Celebrates Atlantic Canadian writing and book illustration; two children's literature prizes awarded the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature and the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration

 

BC Book Prizes (Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize & Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize): Celebrates the achievements of British Columbia and Yukon writers and publishers

Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award: Annually recognizes one Canadian children's book

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CODE Burt Award: Recognizes excellence in young adult literature in three categories: African Young Adult Literature, Caribbean Young Adult Literature, and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit literature for young adults.

 

Governor General’s Literary Awards: Recognize Canada’s best English and French books in 7 categories: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Young People’s Literature – Text, Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books and Translation

 

Lane Anderson Award: Honors the best science writing in Canada, both in the adult and young reading categories

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Saskatchewan Book Awards: Recognizes, celebrates, and rewards the excellence of Saskatchewan writers and publishers, includes an annual Children's Literature Prize

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Saskatchewan Young Readers' Choice Awards (The Willow Awards): Recognizes the best in Canadian and Saskatchewan children's books as voted by Saskatchewan students

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The Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic: Recognizes exceptional Canadian speculative writing in three categories: adult, young adult and short story

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Caribbean

CODE Burt Award: Recognizes excellence in young adult literature in three categories: African Young Adult Literature, Caribbean Young Adult Literature, and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit literature for young adults.

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Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Américas Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature: Books by and about Latinos/as and the Caribbean

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Chile

Colibrí Medal: Administered by IBBY Chile, the Colibrí (Hummingbird) Medal honors the best in children’s and young adult writing and illustration in Chile.

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Santiago Municipal Literature Award (Premio Municipal de Literatura de Santiago): The oldest literary award in Chile; recognizes outstanding Chilean works in ten categories including Children’s Literature and Young Adult Literature

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China

The Bing Xin Children's Literary Award (冰心儿童文学新作奖): Begun in 2005, this award is named for the Chinese writer Bing Xin, a key figure in 20th-century Chinese literature. It is an annual award intended to “honor the creativity of Chinese Children’s literature and to discover and foster new authors, as well as supporting and encouraging outstanding children’s literature and publishing.”

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Chen Bochui International Children’s Literature Award (陈伯吹儿童文学奖): Promotes excellence in children’s publishing and cultural diversity; begun in 1981 with awards given every two years, but since 2014 has been held annually. It is named after the author and translator Chen Bochui (1906-1997), who translated prominent children’s literature such as Pushkin’s Children’s Tales, The Wizard of Oz, Heidi, and Don Quixote into Chinese.

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Feng Zikai Chinese Children’s Picture Book Award (豐子愷兒童圖畫書獎): Biannual award that honors contributors to Chinese children’s literature

 

National Outstanding Children’s Literature Award (全国优秀儿童文学奖): The top award for children's literature in China; organized by the China Writers Association and awarded every three years in the categories of novels, picture books, poetry, essays, and non-fiction

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The Soong Ching-ling Children’s Literature Prize (宋庆龄儿童文学奖): Awarded every two years, with a different genre specified each time; recognizes writers who have made an outstanding contribution to children’s literature, and of promoting the creation of children’s literature in China

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Denmark

The Ministry of Culture's Author and Illustrator Prize for Children’s and Youth Books (Kulturministeriets Forfatter- og Illustratorpris for børne- og ungdomsbøger): Annually honors Danish authors and illustrators of children’s and youth books

 

East Asia

Freeman Book Awards: This annual award recognizes quality books for children and young adults that contribute meaningfully to an understanding of East and Southeast Asia. Award is sponsored by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), the Committee on Teaching about Asia (CTA) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), and Asia for Educators (AFE) at Columbia University.

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France

France’s Prix Sorcières: A French literary prize award by ALSJ (Association des librairies spécialisées jeunesse) in partnership with the ABF (Association des Bibliothécaires de France)

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Germany

German Youth Literature Award (Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis): Recognizes outstanding works of children's literature in five categories Best Picture Book, Best Children’s Book, Best Youth Book, Best Non-Fiction Book, and Choice of the Youth Jury. In addition, two special awards are presented alternately to German authors, illustrators or translators.

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India

Neev Book Award: Part of the Neev Literature Festival (NLF) since 2018, this prize recognizes outstanding writing that leads to a fuller understanding of India, Indian lives, and Indian stories.

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International

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award: The world’s largest prize for children’s and young adult literature goes to an author or illustrator of longstanding merit

 

Bologna Children's Book Fair Awards: Since 1963, the fair is held yearly for four days in March or April in Italy. It is the meeting place for all professionals involved with creating and publishing children's books, and is mainly used for the buying and selling of rights, both for translations and for derived products like movies or animated series. It is also the event where a number of major awards are given, the BolognaRagazzi Awards, in four categories (Fiction, Non-fiction, New Horizons (for the non-Western world) and Opera Prima (for first works).

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The Children’s Literature Association Phoenix Award: Some of the books are international; awarded for a book published 20 years earlier that did not receive the recognition it deserved at the time of publication

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Ezra Jack Keats Book Award: Encourages and celebrates up-and-coming authors of picture books written in the tradition of Keats­—that is, with original, well-told stories that reflect the universal qualities of childhood and the multicultural nature of our world

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Golden Kite Award: Awarded by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), these awards recognize excellence in children’s literature and are the only children’s literary award judged by a jury of peers

Hans Christian Andersen Award: Awarded every other year by IBBY, the Hans Christian Andersen Award recognizes lifelong achievement and are presented to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children's literature

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International Board on Books for Young Readers (IBBY): Awards outstanding international books

 

International Reading Association (IRA) Notable Books for a Global Society: Identifies outstanding trade books that help promote understanding across lines of culture, race, sexual orientation, values, and ethnicity.

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Skipping Stones Award, Multicultural and International: Honors books that build cross-cultural bridges

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Ireland

Literary Association of Ireland Children's Book Award: Awarded alternative years to a children's book published in Ireland in the previous two years

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Israel

The Israel Museum Ben-Yitzhak Award for Illustration: Awarded biennially for outstanding artistic quality in a children’s book first published in Israel

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Latin America

Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Américas Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature: Books by and about Latinos/as and the Caribbean

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American Library Association's Pura Belpré Medal and Honor Awards: Awarded to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth

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Middle East and North Africa

Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature: Launched in 2009 and organized by the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY), this award recognizes Arabic children’s books and apps across six categories

 

Middle East Book Award: The Middle East Outreach Council established the Middle East Book Award in 1999 to recognize books for children and young adults that contribute meaningfully to understanding of the Middle East

 

Sheikh Zayed Book Award: Aims to bring global attention to Arabic-language writers and to celebrate academics writing about Arabic culture in other languages, includes a children's literature category

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New Zealand

New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults: Celebrates the contribution New Zealand’s children’s authors and illustrators make to building national identity and cultural heritage, includes prizes for Young Adult Fiction (the Copyright Licensing NZ Award), Junior Fiction (the Esther Glen Award), Non-Fiction (the Elsie Locke Award), Picture Book, Illustration (the Russell Clark Award), the Te Kura Pounamu Award (for books entirely written in te reo Māori), and the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.

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Nigeria

Nigeria Prize for Literature: Awarded annually; award rotates among four genres: fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s literature; one of the richest literary awards in the world

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Nordic Countries

Storytel Awards: Started in 2015, the Storytel Awards is the Nordic region’s largest audiobook award. Local award ceremonies in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland recognize winners in children's and young adult audiobooks. 

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Sweden

Bengt Christell Prize:  In January 2020, Bokförlaget Opal announced the winner of the very first Bengt Christell Prize. A debutant picture book competition in honour of the publishing house’s founder.

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Taiwan

Nine Songs Contemporary Children's Literature Award (九歌現代少兒文學獎): Established in 1992 with the aim of encouraging the creation of children’s literature in Taiwan; also known as the ChiuKo Award

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom’s Carnegie Medal: Awarded by children's librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people.

The United Kingdom’s Kate Greenaway Medal: Awarded by children's librarians for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people

 

USA

American Library Association's Coretta Scott King Book Awards: Awarded annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values

American Library Association's Mildred L. Batchelder Award: Awarded to the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States

American Library Association's Pura Belpré Medal and Honor Awards: Awarded to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth

Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association: Books by and about Asians and Asian Americans 

 

Jane Addams Book Awards: Awarded annually to children's books that effectively promote the cause of peace, social justice, world community, and the equality of the sexes and all races as well as meeting conventional standards for excellence

 

United States Board on Books for Young People: The American affiliate of the International Board on Books for Young Readers was founded to promote international understanding and good will through books for children and adolescents

 

Wales

Welsh Books Council Tir Na N-Og Award: Recognizes books about Wales