Prestigious Booker Prize Adds £50,000 Prize for Young Readers’ Fiction

Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov won the 2023 International Booker Prize

The Booker Prize Foundation has announced the creation of a new award dedicated to children’s literature, the AP reports. Valued at 50,000 British pounds (approximately 57,400 euros), the prize will recognize outstanding fiction for young readers. Applications will open at the start of next year, with the inaugural award scheduled for 2027.

The jury selecting the winner will be composed of both children and adults, led by writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who currently holds the British Children’s Book Prize. Cottrell-Boyce, known for works such as Millions, which earned him the Carnegie Medal, described his appointment as jury chair as “thrilling.”

Funding for the prize comes from the AKO Foundation, a charity supporting the arts, education, and the environment. Eligible submissions will include works of fiction aimed at children aged 8 to 12, written in English or translated into English, and published in the UK or Ireland.

Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Foundation, emphasized that the new award seeks to encourage reading among young audiences and hopes to cultivate a lifelong love of literature in future generations.

The original Booker Prize, founded in 1969, is renowned for shaping literary careers, with past winners including Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, Arundhati Roy, and Hilary Mantel. The 2025 winner of the traditional Booker Prize will be announced on 10 November, BTA reports.

The International Booker Prize, established in 2005 and initially a lifetime achievement award, has since 2016 recognized specific works of translated fiction, with prize money shared between the author and translator. Past recipients include Nobel laureates Olga Tokarczuk of Poland and Han Kang of South Korea. Notably, Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov won the 2023 International Booker Prize.