Awards Titles & Judging Criteria

General

The awards are for outstanding books, and the characters, themes, language and writing style must all work together. Where a book has illustrations, the words and pictures must work together as a whole. Originality, as well as overall suitability for the implied reader*, must be taken into account.

Book of the Year: Older Readers

This award is for fiction, poetry, drama intended for teenagers.

Book of the Year: Younger Readers

This award is for fiction, poetry, drama intended for primary and junior secondary students who can read fluently.

Book of the Year: Early Childhood

This award is for stories and concept books (such as numbers, colours, etc.) for children up to the age of 7 who may be learning to read or who cannot yet read; and should reflect their interests and experience. Illustrations are usually very important in these books.

Picture Book of the Year

Note that picture books can be for any age. In a good picture book, words and pictures work together to enhance the reading experience.(It is worth looking critically at the words and the pictures separately, and then at the book as a whole).

The Eve Pownall Award for Information Books

This award is for books where the main purpose is to document factual material. The information in them must be accurate and clear, and any illustrations should both interest and inform readers. Look for index, glossary and suggestions for finding more information. The amount of information provided will vary with the type of book and the implied reader*

Some evaluation techniques

Ask yourself

• Do the title and the cover give a good clue as to the type of book?
• Do the endpapers enhance the book, or at least harmonise with it?
• Did the book 'grab' me from the start?
• Are the characters believable (even imaginary ceatures and animals)?
• For fiction, is it a good story?
• For information books, is the topic presented in an interesting way?
• For information books, is it easy to find information?
• Are the language and style suitable for the implied reader*?
• Ask yourself: can I think of any way this book could be improved? If not, it's probably a very good book!

The term "implied reader" means the type of reader for whom the book is intended. For example, if the 'implied reader' is a pre-school child you would expect fairly simple language, not too many words, helpful illustrations, and a topic of interest to this age group.

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Previous Winners: 2007 (pdf 244 KB)

About the Junior Judges' Project

The Judging Process

Teacher Resources