The Judges of the 2003 Awards commend these titles as a source for individual reading and gift giving, and for inclusion in Australian and international public and school library collections.

Notable books are listed in FIVE sections:

• Book of the Year: Older Readers
  Includes outstanding books of fiction, drama or poetry which require of the reader a degree of maturity to appreciate the topics, themes and scope of emotional involvement. Generally, books in this category will be appropriate in style and content for readers in their secondary years of schooling.
  24 Titles 
  
   
• Book of the Year: Younger Readers
  Includes outstanding books of fiction, drama or poetry for readers who have developed independent reading skills but are still developing in literary appreciation.
  Generally, books in this category will be appropriate in style and content for readers from the middle to upper primary years.
  23 Titles
  
   
• Book of the Year: Early Childhood
  Includes outstanding books of fiction, drama or poetry for children who are at the pre-reading or early stages of reading. They may be picture books, picture story books, or texts in which illustrations play a substantial part in the storytelling or concept development.
  19 Titles
  
   
• Picture Book of the Year
  Includes outstanding books of the Picture Book genre in which the author and illustrator achieve artistic and literary unity, or, in wordless picture books, where the story, theme or concept are unified through illustrations.
  19 Titles
  
   
• Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
  Includes outstanding books that have the prime intention of documenting factual material with consideration given to imaginative presentation, interpretation and variation of style.
  14 Titles
  
   

(Extract from, The Children's Book Council of Australia Awards Handbook 2002, pp 7-8.)