The Readers' Choice Award was created in 2023 in response to the years of requests from schools to have a say in the awards. Schools wanted to shadow the books and cast a vote on their favourite books. With our limited capacity we tried to think of the best way to get schools involved.
In the end we decided to have a poll with all the longlisted books and encouraged readers to buy the books or support the ones they've read and vote for their favourite across each category. Schools especially got very involved. Please note these votes are entirely by the public.
This year we had over 4000 votes!
Our 2026 Winners
Best Picture Book
The Bicycle
by Patricia McCormick and Mevan Babakar, illustrated by Yas Imamura
(Farshore)
30.6% of the vote
2nd place:
Super Nani and Captain Yaz
by Saira Shah, Maria Gabriela Gama
(Templar Books)
16.7% of the vote
3rd place:
Bessie's Bees
by George Kirk, Ana Gómez
(Templar Books)
10.2% of the vote
Best Children's Book
Running My Own Race
by Abena Eyson
(Nosy Crow)
16.3% of the vote
2nd place:
How to Roller-Skate with One Leg
by Ella Dove, Jennifer Jamieson
(Orchard Books)
14.6% of the vote
3rd place:
Nate Yu’s Blast from the Past
by Maisie Chan
(Piccadilly Press)
13.2% of the vote
Best Young Adult Book
Heartbreaker
by Anika Hussain
(Hot Key Books)
23.9% of the vote
2nd place:
'Til Death
by Busayo Matuluko
(Simon and Schuster Children's Books)
19.1% of the vote
3rd place:
Odd Girl Out
by Tasneem Abdur-Rashid
(David Fickling Books)
17.6% of the vote
Best Adult Book
Chaotic Energy
by Stephanie Yeboah
(Orion)
13.3% of the vote
2nd place:
When the Fireflies Dance
by Aisha Hassan
(Orion)
12.7% of the vote
3rd place:
Fundamentally
by Nussaibah Younis
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
10.8% of the vote
Best Non-Fiction Picture Books, Children's and YA
Different Like Us! Inspiring Real Stories from Kids Everywhere
by Margaret Rooke
(Jessica Kingsley Publishers)
41.9% of the vote
2nd place:
One Diwali Day
by Dev Kothari, illustrated by Aditi Anand
(Walker Books)
15.3% of the vote
3rd place:
History's Most Epic Fails
by Athena Kugblenu, illustrated by Nicole Miles
(Wren & Rook/Hachette)
11.1% of the vote
Best Non-Fiction Adult
Who Wants Normal? Life Lessons from Disabled Women
by Frances Ryan
(Fig Tree)
28.7% of the vote
2nd place:
To Be Young, Gifted and Black
by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason
(OneWorld)
16.9% of the vote
3rd place:
Chinese and Any Other Asian: Exploring East and South East Asian Identity in Britain
by Anna Sulan Masing
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
15% of the vote
