Balen, Mann, Ilustrajo and Boakye take home UKLA Book Awards

Katya Balen, Manjeet Mann, Mariajo Ilustrajo and Jeffrey Boakye have been announced as the winners of the UKLA Book Awards 2023, the only UK children’s book awards judged entirely by teachers, with Balen making history as the first author to win the award in consecutive years. 

Balen again takes home the prize in the 7-10+ category, won last year for October, October, for what the judges dubbed her “exquisite” novel The Light in Everything (Bloomsbury). The book was chosen for being “gut-wrenchingly emotional and relatable” and “the sophisticated but not condescending language".

Balen said of the win: “The UKLA Book Awards and its community are everything I love about being a children’s author — their members and judges are so enthusiastic, dedicated and involved in making sure young people are reading for pleasure and exploring a wide range of books. So it’s an absolute honour and a privilege for them to recognise my work and to win the 7-10+ category with The Light in Everything.”

The 11-14+ category features another returning winner. Manjeet Mann was joint winner in 2021 with her debut novel Run Rebel and went on to win the Costa Award with her next novel, The Crossing (Penguin), which has now secured her a second UKLA win. Judges commended the “important and powerful” verse novel for its “brilliant construction” and clever handling of the dual narrator perspective to reveal with “real emotional heart and soul” the topical and relevant tragedies of the refugee crisis. Both Balen and Mann receive Emeritus medals for winning their categories twice.

In contrast, the 3-6+ category has been won by a “stunning” debut. Flooded by Mariajo Ilustrajo (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books) delighted the judges with its “unique style” of “quirky and original” illustrations with “lots to notice in the finer detail and a great use of a limited colour palette”.

The winner of the Information Books 3-14+ category is the “insightful and thought- provoking” Musical Truth: A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs (Faber & Faber) by Jeffrey Boakye with illustrations by Ngadi Smart. The judges also wished to highly commend Here and Queer (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books) written by Rowan Ellis with “bright and engaging” illustrations by Jacky Sheridan.

Chris Lockwood, awards chair, said: “It is a joy to hear the passion and enthusiasm from our teacher judges every year.  They approach the job of choosing the winning books with enormous care and consideration about the impact of these books on the children and young people they teach.  We are so lucky to have such wonderful shortlisted books to choose from."

The winners were announced at an awards ceremony on 23rd June at the UKLA International Conference in Exeter. The full shortlists can be found here.