This annual prize, generously funded by Nicholas Allan, author of The Queen’s Knickers, is awarded to an outstanding children’s original illustrated book for ages 0-7.
It will recognise books that strike a quirky, new note and grab the attention of a child, whether this be in the form of curiosity, amusement, horror or excitement.
The winner will receive £5,000, as well as a golden Queen’s Knickers badge, as depicted in Nicholas Allan’s original book.
The runner-up will receive £1,000 and a silvered badge.
The 2023 Award is now closed for submissions. The shortlist will be announced in Spring 2023.
2022 Queen’s Knickers winner
Winner : Alastair Chisholm and David Roberts for Inch and Grub (Walker Books)
Runner-up: Mick Jackson and John Broadley for While You’re Sleeping (Pavilion Children’s)
Shortlist:
- Chris Haughton for Maybe (Walker Books)
- Dr. Meredith L. Rowe and Monika Forsberg for An Interesting Word for Every Day of the Year (Magic Cat Publishing)
- Matthew Hodson for At This Very Moment (Cicada)
Lauren Child
(c) Polly Borland
Lauren Child is an award-winning artist and writer. She is the creator of many much-loved characters, including Charlie and Lola, Clarice Bean, Hubert Horatio and Ruby Redfort. Her first two books were published in 1999 – I Want a Pet and Clarice Bean, That’s Me, and she won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal in 2000 for I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato, the first of her Charlie and Lola picture books, and published her first Clarice Bean novel in 2002 – Utterly Me, Clarice Bean. Her books have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Her latest Clarice Bean novel will be published in May 2022 by Harper Collins Children’s Books. In 2010 she was awarded an MBE and a CBE in 2020 for Services to Literature and was the 10th Waterstones’ Children’s Laureate from 2017 to 2019
Petr Horacek
(c)Anthony Pearson
Petr Horácek grew up on the outskirts of Prague where he studied painting and the Academy of Fine Art. He met his English wife Claire there and in 1995 they moved to England. His first picture books Strawberries are Red and What is Black and White? were published in 2001 and he received the Books For Children Newcomer Award in the same year. Since then Petr has written and illustrated numerous books for children including bestsellers Puffin Peter and Blue Penguin. Petr has won numerous awards for his books all over the world and travels doing events in schools and festivals.
www.petrhoracek.com
Patrice Lawrence
Patrice Lawrence an award-winning writer of fiction both for adults and children. Her books for young adults have won many prizes including the YA Prize, the Waterstones Prize for Older Children’s Fiction, the Crimefest YA Prize twice and the inaugural Jhalak Prize for Children and Young People. The Elemental Detectives, the first in a middle grade fantasy series set in Georgian London, is published by Scholastic in September 2022. She was awarded an MBE for literature in June 2021
2022
- Winner : Alastair Chisholm and David Roberts for Inch and Grub (Walker Books) £5,000
- Runner-up: Mick Jackson and John Broadley for While You’re Sleeping (Pavilion Children’s) £1,000
2021
- Rashmi Sirdeshpande and Daine Ewen for Never Show a T-Rex a Book (Puffin) £5,000
- Runner-up: Alex T. Smith for Mr. Penguin and the Catastrophic Cruise (Hachette) £1,000
2020
- Elena Arevalo Melville for Umbrella (Scallyway Press) £5,000
- Runners-Up: Didier Lévy and Frederic Benaglia for How to Light Your Dragon (Thames & Hudson) £1,000