Thank you to everyone that entered! We had amazing titles to choose from. Thank you to our longlist judges for helping us to create the longlist. These are the top 12 diverse UK and Ireland books in Picture Books, Children's, YA and Adult fiction and top 8 diverse UK and Ireland non-fiction books in Picture Books, Children's, YA and top 7 in Adult.
The shortlist will be announced on September 24th 2026.
Don't forget to vote for your favourite book via the Readers' Choice Award. You can vote for one book per category and the books with the most votes will be announced at our awards ceremony in October. Please do support all of these amazing books. Don't forget to use the hashtag #TheDBAwards
Picture Book
A Card for my Mum by Bashabi Fraser, Maanvi Kapur (Lantana Publishing)
Bessie's Bees by Ana Gómez, George Kirk (Templar)
Carnival Queen by Donette Williams-Harry, Amélie-Anne Calmo (Little Tiger)
Cloud Boy by Gregg Stobbs (Oxford University Press)
Ibraheem's Perfect Eid by Farhana Islam, Nabila Adani (Puffin)
My Rice is Best by Selina Brown, Maxwell A.Oginni (Puffin)
Noah’s New Home by Zeshan Akhter, Nabila Adani (Templar Books)
Little Rhino Lost by Candy Gourlay, Jamie Bauza (Otter Barry Books)
Super Nani and Captain Yaz by Saira Shah, Maria Gabriela Gama (Templar Books)
The Beautiful Layers of Me by Sophia Payne, Ruchi Mhasane (Walker Books)
The Bicycle by Patricia McCormick and Mevan Babakar, Yas Imamura (Farshore)
The Tour at School: Because you’re the new kid by Katie Clapham, Nadia Shireen (Walker Books)
Children's
Champions of the Galaxy by Tolá Okogwu (Simon & Schuster Children's Books)
How to Roller-Skate with One Leg by Ella Dove, Jennifer Jamieson (Orchard Books)
Kofi and the Brand New Vibe by Jeffrey Boakye (Faber & Faber)
My Name is Samim by Fidan Meikle (Kelpies/Floris Books)
My Soul, A Shining Tree by Jamila Gavin (Farshore)
Naeli and the Secret Song by Jasbinder Bilan (Chicken House)
Nate Yu’s Blast from the Past by Maisie Chan (Piccadilly Press)
Runaways by E.L.Norry (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
Running My Own Race by Abena Eyeson (Nosy Crow)
Solving Crimes is NOT my Superpower by Nathanael Lessore, Simran Diamond Singh (Little Tiger)
Supa Nova by Chanté Timothy (Nosy Crow)
The Cheat Book Vol 2 by RAMZEE (Holder Children's Books)
YA
Girl, Ultra-Processed by Amara Sage (Faber & Faber)
Heartbreaker by Anika Hussain (Hot Key Books)
Love on Sight by Asli Jensen (Chicken House)
Mondays Are Murder by Ravena Guron (Usborne)
No One Keeps a Secret by Denise Brown (Hashtag Press)
Odd Girl Out by Tasneem Abdur-Rashid (David Fickling Books)
Roar by Manjeet Mann (Penguin Random House)
Stealing Happy by Brian Conaghan (Bloomsbury YA)
Tart by Becki Jayne Crossley (Bloomsbury YA)
The Girl with the Red Boots by Alex Wheatle (Hodder Children's Books)
This Feast of a Life by Cynthia So (Little Tiger)
’Til Death by Busayo Matuluko (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)
Adult
Awakened by Kelechi Okafor (Trapeze)
Behind Frenemy Lines by Zen Cho (Pan Macmillan)
Chaotic Energy by Stephanie Yeboah (Orion)
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Hail Mary by Funmi Fetto (Magpie)
Kakigori Summer by Emily Itami (Phoenix)
Salutation Road by Salma Ibrahim (Mantle)
The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri (Orbit)
The Kill List by Nadine Matheson (HQ)
The Manual for Good Wives by Lola Jaye (Pan Macmillan)
What Happens in the Dark by Kia Abdullah (HarperCollins)
When the Fireflies Dance by Aisha Hassan (Orion Fiction)
Picture Book/Children's/YA Non-Fiction
Different Like Us! Inspiring Real Stories from Kids Everywhere by Margaret Rooke (Jessica Kingsley Publishers) - Children's
History's Most Epic Fails by Athena Kugblenu, Nicole Miles (Wren & Rook/Hachette) - Children's
It's a Brave Young World by Anu Adebogun, Soofiya and Lila Cruz (Little Tiger) - YA
One Diwali Day by Dev Kothari, Aditi Anand (Walker Books) - Picture Book
TEN Children Who Changed the World by Paterson Joseph, Rumbidzai Savanhu (Wren & Rook/Hachette) - Children's
The Endless Sea by Chi Thai, Linh Dao (Walker Books) - Picture Books
This is Us by Emily Hamilton (Bloomsbury Children's Books) - Picture Books
We Are Your Children by David Roberts (Two Hoots) - YA
Non-Fiction Adult
Act Normal: Joy and Despair in Postcolonial Britain by Pete Kalu (HopeRoad)
Beyond Bananas and Condoms by Dee Whitnell (Jessica Kingsley Publishers)
Chinese and Any Other Asian: Exploring East and South East Asian Identity in Britain by Anna Sulan Masing (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
To Be Young Gifted and Black by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason (OneWorld)
The Science of Racism by Keon West (Picador)
The Trembling Hand by Mathelinda Nabugodi (Hamish Hamilton)
Who Wants Normal? Life Lessons from Disabled Women by Frances Ryan (Fig Tree)