Scholastic expands The Lollies after closure of Blue Peter Book Awards

Scholastic has expanded the Laugh Out Loud Book Awards, also known as The Lollies, in the wake of the closure of the Blue Peter Book Awards.

The Lollies originally started in 2015 after the Roald Dahl Funny Prize came to an end. They celebrate the best and funniest children’s books in the UK and Ireland annually, with the winners decided by children’s votes. 

The awards will now have categories for Best Laugh Out Loud Poetry Book, Non-Fiction Book, Book for Teens/YA and Illustrator of the Year. 

Organisers said the expansion announcement was in response to the Blue Peter Book Awards ending, revealed by The Bookseller this week, and aimed to include "as wide a representation as possible across the world of children’s publishing".

Its traditional categories are Best Laugh Out Loud Picture Book, Book for six to eight-year-olds and Book for nine to 13-year-olds. Past winners include Liz Pichon, David Baddiel, Michelle Robinson, Joshua Seigal, David Solomons and Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet. 

The 2023 Lollies will open for submissions on 18th July and close on 8th August with the shortlists announced in October. Entry criteria and submission forms can be found here. 

Catherine Bell, Scholastic group co-managing director, said: “We’re delighted to be announcing an extension to the Lollies categories. We know from school and teacher feedback that these awards promote so much excitement and engagement among all children, including ones that may not consider themselves regular readers. The Lollies help to build and share new funny books directly with children, and they have a really important place as unashamedly entertaining and fun in a world that’s often not.” 

Rachel Partridge, group marketing and PR director, added: “Our unique channels give us reach to over 20,000 schools, so it makes perfect sense to use our already successful Lollies platform to showcase even more funny books. Extended categories and a further reach into secondary schools through the new teen category means that every child has a greater chance of discovering new authors and illustrators. We’re able to digitally reach a huge audience, with over 150,000 children in schools joining us for our virtual Lollies shortlist showcase week last autumn, and we hope that 2023 will be our biggest year yet.”