In February 2027, the British Booker Prize will, for the first time, be awarded in its new category for fiction aimed at children aged 8–12, according to The Guardian. The winner will receive £50,000, while the authors of the shortlisted books will each receive £2,500. Eligible works include books written or translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland between November 1, 2025, and October 31, 2026.
The judging panel will include both adults and children and will be chaired by children’s author Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Three adult judges will select the eight shortlisted titles, while the winner will be chosen with the participation of three child judges. Applications for children wishing to join the jury will open in spring 2026.
The Booker Prize, first awarded in 1969, is one of the world’s most influential literary awards.
The purpose of the new category is to encourage reading among children, whose engagement with books has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years in the UK. Only 35% of children aged 8–18 read in their free time in 2024 — a drop of 8.8 percentage points from 2023. To support this goal, 30,000 copies of the shortlisted books will be distributed free of charge to children across the UK.
First awarded in 1969, the Booker Prize remains one of the most prestigious literary honors worldwide, celebrating outstanding works of fiction written in English and published in the UK or Ireland.
Source: Guardian [1], [2]
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