The Juniper Book Awards

These awards are a celebration of reading for pleasure in primary and secondary schools around the country.

We give your pupils the power to decide which of our six shortlisted books should win the Book of the Year 2025. After all, the winner of a children’s book prize should be chosen by the children themselves!

Your pupils get to tell us why they like (or dislike) each book by posting reviews, and you get to show us what amazing work and activities have been generated using the books as inspiration. We have awards for Best Book Review, Best Creative Pupil (or group) and Most Innovative School.

In previous years we have seen collaborations between school libraries, music and drama departments, interpretive dance pieces, raps, pop-up cafes, charity fundraisers, masked readers, book trailers and art projects.

Our shortlisted authors are encouraged to be involved; they can access and respond to book reviews in the online forum and are invited to attend our virtual award ceremony in April 2025.

What could the Juniper Book Awards inspire in your school?

Find out more below and sign up to take part.

Book of the year

We will compile a shortlist of six titles from newly published fiction for young people. The Winner will be selected via a voting system where the participating pupils select their favourite book.

Most innovative school

Schools can submit a statement describing innovative ways that your school has implemented the Juniper Book Awards. The winner is to be decided by Juniper Education.

Best creative award

Awarded to an individual/group of pupils for the best creative idea linked to one of the shortlisted books. Entries can include for example music, dance, live-action drama video, poetry or art. The winner is to be decided by Juniper Education Resources Service.

Best pupil reviews

All pupil book reviews on the forum will be reviewed by our team of librarians to find this year’s best review.

How the shortlist is chosen

Last year we introduced an opportunity for you to get involved in the selection process. You can now nominate books to be included on the JBA longlist, so long as they fit our criteria below:

1. Published in the UK, in the paperback between 07/10/2023 – 04/10/2024.

2. Promote reading engagement.

3. With content suitable for children aged 10+.

4. If part of a series, can be read without series knowledge.

From the longlist, released in September, our team of librarians choose six titles to make up the shortlist. The final selection is announced when the awards are launched in October.

"It proved to be an excellent way to introduce our new Year 7 pupils to other readers, and start friendships through books. This was the first year that we have been involved so we introduced it to pupils who had demonstrated a love of reading in their English Lessons. It has helped develop a reading community, with many more pupils expressing an interest as the scheme evolved in Library Lessons. The Awards Ceremony was a great celebration of new friends and a passion for books. The members of our group were really invested in their favourite books on the shortlist."

Sharon Mathieson, Brentwood School

Sign up
includes:

For just £88 you can join us, as we engage young readers with new books. You'll get:

Resources to inspire book club activities

Access to an online forum for your pupils to share their reviews with other schools and the authors!

Access to our JBA password-protected website where you can access resources, activities and content.

An opportunity to enter one of our exciting school awards to showcase your pupils’ book reviews, creativity,
and your school’s innovative use of the awards.

The opportunity for your pupils to vote for the Juniper Book of the Year 2025.

An invite to the live Virtual Awards Ceremony in April.

An option to purchase a set of the six shortlisted books for an additional fee*

And much more...

For £125 sign-up also includes a set of the shortlisted books.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a cut-off date for signing up?

We recommend schools to sign up before Christmas to give pupils enough time to read the shortlisted books and decide which one is their favourite before the awards ceremony in March. Your schools, however, might want to give pupils more or less time to read all the books.

Do the shortlisted book authors get involved with the awards?

We cannot guarantee that the authors will participate. However, in previous years we have had the authors interact with pupils in the forum, reading their reviews and attending the awards ceremony to discuss their books. Generally, the authors are very happy to get involved and love to get honest feedback from pupils.

Can I order copies of the shortlisted books?

Yes, if you would like copies of the books, we can supply these for an additional cost. Buying the books with us will give you discounted rates.

10th September 2024	JBA 2025 Longlist announced.
21st October 2024	JBA 2025 Launched and shortlist announced.
November 2024	Online forum opens to share book reviews.
7th March 2025	Voting opens for Book of the Year 2025 and submissions open for school awards.
28th March 2025	Voting and submission deadline.
April 2025	Virtual Award Ceremony for the JBA 2025 and winners announced.

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JBA 2024 participants can still access the shortlist here.

What to expect