2024 CBCA Book Of The Year Awards
Your 2024 Shortlisted titles have been released!
Congratulations to all CBCA Book of the Year Award Shortlist authors, illustrators and publishers for 2024. Please enjoy our short announcement video.
The Book of the Year Awards Shortlist 2024 is a cut down version of the 2024 Notable Australian Children’s Books. Compiled from critiques submitted by our expert judges, this document can aid their discovery of good stories to read, a reported reason they give for not reading. So share it, discuss it, and let’s continue to grow our reading culture!
Happy reading!
Book of the Year Award Shortlist critiques, for all 2024 shortlisted titles.
(PDF 2.1 Mb.)
Book of the Year Award Shortlist, complete list (PDF 838 Kb.)
Select a button and jump straight to that award category.
The CBCA is made up of state branches, that work to promote literature and literacy in their state. The branches each send a representative to the judging panel for the Book of the Year awards.
Members of the CBCA’s National Board are either nominated by their state/territory branches or sit as independent directors.
Book Of The Year: Older Readers
Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for readers in their secondary years of schooling. Ages 13-18 years.
Note: Books in this category are for mature readers and some may deal with particularly challenging themes including violence and suicide. Parental guidance is recommended.
- Two Can Play That Game
- Leanne Yong
- A & U Children
- ISBN: 9781761063374
- The Quiet and the Loud
- Helena Fox
- Pan Macmillan Australia
- ISBN: 9781760983024
- Let’s Never Speak of This Again
- Megan Williams
- Text Publishing
- ISBN: 9781922790392
- Inkflower
- Suzy Zail
- Walker Books Australia
- ISBN: 9781760653736
- Grace Notes
- Karen Comer
- Lothian Children's Books
- ISBN: 9780734421722
- A Hunger Of Thorns
- Lili Wilkinson
- A & U Children
- ISBN: 9781760526948
Book Of The Year: Younger Readers
Entries in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for readers from the middle to upper primary years. 7-12 years.
Note: some of the titles in this category may only be suitable for readers who are in the upper primary years as they contain mature themes, including violence. Parental guidance is recommended.
- The Sideways Orbit of Evie Hart
- Samera Kamaleddine
- HarperCollins
- ISBN: 9781460762653
- Scout and the Rescue Dogs
- Dianne Wolfer (Illust: Tony Flowers)
- Walker Books Australia
- ISBN: 9781760655860
- Scar Town
- Tristan Bancks
- Puffin Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
- ISBN: 9780143791812
- Real Pigeons Flap Out
- Andrew McDonald (Illust: Ben Wood)
- Hardie Grant Children's Publishing
- ISBN: 9781761211546
- Huda Was Here
- H. Hayek
- A & U Children
- ISBN: 9781761068430
- Being Jimmy Baxter
- Fiona Lloyd
- Puffin Books, Penguin Group (Australia)
- ISBN: 9781760148515
Book Of The Year: Early Childhood
- Bear and Duck are Friends
- Sue deGennaro
- Little Hare (an imprint of Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
- ISBN: 9781761210327
- Can You Teach a Fish to Climb a Tree?
- Jane Godwin (Illust: Terry Denton)
- Bright Light (an imprint of Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
- ISBN: 9781760508661
- The Concrete Garden
- Bob Graham
- Walker Books Australia
- ISBN: 9781529512649
- One Little Duck
- Katrina Germein (Illust: Danny Snell)
- HarperCollins Publishers
- ISBN: 9781460761649
- Gymnastica Fantastica!
- Briony Stewart
- Lothian Children's Books, (an imprint of Hachette)
- ISBN: 9780734421852
- Grace and Mr Milligan
- Pip Kruger
- Marshall Cavendish International
- ISBN: 9789815009811
Picture Book Of The Year
Entries in this category should be 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 is unified through illustrations. Ages 0-18 years.
(Note: some of these books may be for mature readers.)
- Bowerbird Blues
- Aura Parker
- Scholastic Australia
- ISBN: 9781760269609
- Every Night at Midnight
- Peter Cheong
- Affirm Press
- ISBN: 9781922992383
- If I Was a Horse
- Sophie Blackall
- Lothian Children's Books (an imprint of Hachette)
- ISBN: 9780734422712
- Paper-flower Girl
- Mateja Jager (Text: Margrete Lamond)
- Dirt Lane Press (an imprint of WestWords)
- ISBN: 9780645352399
- That Bird Has Arms
- Ronojoy Ghosh & Niharika Hukku (Text: Kate Temple & Jol Temple)
- Little Hare (an imprint of Hardie Grant Children's Publishing)
- ISBN: 9781761210310
- Timeless
- Kelly Canby
- Fremantle Press
- ISBN: 9781760992323
Eve Pownall Award
Entries in this category should be books which have the prime intention of documenting factual material with consideration given to imaginative presentation, interpretation and variation of style. Ages 0-18 years.
(Note: books in this category are for mature readers and some may deal with particularly challenging themes including violence and suicide. Parental guidance is recommended)
- Australia: Country of Colour
- Jess Racklyeft
- Affirm Press
- ISBN: 9781922863881
- Country Town
- Isolde Martyn & Robyn Ridgeway (Illust: Louise Hogan)
- Ford Street Publishing
- ISBN: 9781922696342
- Eww Gross: Foul Facts and Putrid Pictures
- Dan Marshall
- Lost the Plot (an imprint of Pantera Press)
- ISBN: 9780645624564
- Our Country: Where History Happened
- Mark Greenwood (Illust: Frané Lessac)
- Walker Books Australia
- ISBN: 9781760653576
- Tamarra: A Story of Termites on Gurindji Country
- Violet Wadrill, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal, Leah Leaman, Cecelia Edwards, Cassandra Algy, Felicity Meakins, Briony Barr, Gregory Crocetti
- Hardie Grant Explore
- ISBN: 9781741178302
- This Book Thinks Ya Deadly!
- Corey Tutt (Illust: Molly Hunt)
- Hardie Grant Explore
- ISBN: 9781741178159
Cbca Award For New Illustrator
- When You’re a Boy
- Blake Nuto
- Affirm Press
- ISBN: 9781922863652
- Raised by Moths
- Michelle Conn
- MidnightSun Publishing
- ISBN: 9781922858184
- Phonobet
- Kim Drane
- NLA Publishing
- ISBN: 9781922507471
- Hope is the Thing
- Erica Wagner
- A & U Children
- ISBN: 9781761180026
- Grace and Mr Milligan
- Pip Kruger
- Marshall Cavendish International
- ISBN: 9789815009811
- Etta and the Shadow Taboo
- Jeremy Worrall
- Bright Light (an imprint of Hardie Grant Children's Publishing)
- ISBN: 9781760509798
2024 Book of the Year Award Shortlist quick references
Please help yourself to any of these handy Shortlist document downloads.
| Category | PDF download | Word document download |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Shortlist book critiques | (PDF 2.1 Mb.) |  (DOCX 2.4 Mb.) |
| Book of the Year Award Shortlist, complete list | (PDF 238 Kb.) | (DOC. 66 Kb.) |
| 2024 Notable Books critiques 2024 | (PDF 178 Kb.) | blank |
Hold The Date
The CBCA Book of the Year Award Winners, Honours and Sun Project: Shadow Judging Book of the Year Winner announcement is Friday, 16 August 2024.
Bookmark our Winners web page (https://cbca.org.au/winners-2024) for quick access on the day.
Young Voices Are Welcome Here
The 2024 Sun Project: Shadow Judging Book of the Year Awards national reading program is an excellent opprtunity to encourage young readers to explore the CBCA Bok of the Year Award Shortlisted titles in greater depth.
2024 Children's Book Week® Merchandise
Your official 2024 catalogue is now available. This year’s catalogue is bursting with regular favourites, dynamic display items, and a range of new surprises.
Download the PDF( 7.7 Mb.) version now or visit our store for more product details.