Q&A: Anna Bassi, editorial director, The Week Junior

Why did you decide to launch The Week Junior Book Awards? 

Children’s books have always played a big part in The Week Junior. We have had a weekly Book Club page since the outset and in 2020 we launched our annual Summer of Reading campaign. The 2022 campaign heralded our first live author event, held at the British Library and attended by more than 500 young readers and their families. In each case the aim is to get children excited about books and reading, and to encourage reading for pleasure by introducing them to a wide variety of books, authors and illustrators. Launching our own awards was the obvious next step, and something we had been discussing for a while. 

At the same time, it was clear that many people in children’s publishing felt frustrated by the lack of coverage for their work in the mainstream media. When we heard that the Blue Peter Book Awards were coming to an end, we decided it was time to do something about it. Fortunately our friends at The Bookseller felt the same way so we agreed to join forces. Our partnership enables us to share what we are doing with both the trade and our highly engaged readers and their families—the people who are buying and borrowing children’s books.

How did you come up with the categories for the awards? Are there any that you are particularly excited about?

We have nine categories overall, which we came up with in consultation with The Bookseller’s editor, Philip Jones. Along with fiction and non-fiction—which we have split into younger and older reader categories—we also have awards for audiobooks, illustrated books, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and our Breakthrough award for début authors. If it all goes well this year, I’m keen to add more categories in 2024 as we have certainly not managed to cover everything. The one I’m most excited about is the award for Children’s Book Cover of the Year, as that will be decided by our readers. They will be invited to vote for their favourite front cover from the shortlist we will be announcing in May. 

Who will be judging the awards? 

We are recruiting a wide-ranging panel of experts to help us judge the different categories. Among them are teachers, librarians, booksellers, authors and journalists with a deep understanding of the world of children’s books and what young people like reading. Look out for our official announcement within the next few weeks. 

What are the judging criteria for these awards? 

Each category has specific judging criteria but the one overarching measure is the experience each book offers to readers: is it a satisfying read? Does it leave a lasting impression? Will readers be likely to recommend it to others? The full list of categories and judging criteria will also be published on our website when the entry window opens on 6th March.

How will you ensure that the shortlists and winners reflect what children want to read? 

We are relying on the combined knowledge and experience of the shortlisting panel and the judges to make sure we really do reflect the interests of our readers. And those of us representing The Week Junior will bring our own expertise to the table—we have a very good idea of what our readers enjoy and expect from a book, because they regularly tell us what they are reading and why they like it. 

How will you celebrate the shortlisted and winning books? 

Within The Week Junior there will be sustained coverage of the shortlisted titles, starting with the announcement of the shortlist and running right through until the winners are revealed in October. We are planning to double the space we give to books in every issue in order to offer as much exposure as we can and we will be celebrating the books, authors and illustrators on our weekly podcast, “The Week Junior Show”, too. Major world events notwithstanding, the awards will be our cover story on the week of the ceremony, which is to be held in London on 2nd October.

Where do The Week Junior Book Awards sit in the current children’s book prize landscape? 

In the space very recently vacated by the Blue Peter Book Awards. While there are many fantastic awards for children’s books, I think ours is unique in that The Week Junior is a consumer-facing media brand with huge reach and a very engaged and loyal readership. We are read by more than 100,000 families every week, who trust us to explain current events to children and really do value our recommendations. Our readers are going to be very excited about the awards, particularly the part they get to play in picking the winning cover. Meanwhile, the promotion we can offer—in print, via social media and our podcast—can only amplify the positive impact of being shortlisted for and winning one of these awards.

What are The Week Junior readers looking for in a good book? 

That’s a great question and I have a not-particularly-scientific answer to it that is based on the three-word reviews our readers provide when they recommend books to us. Among the most commonly used words are: exciting, inspiring, informative, intriguing, adventurous, funny and unputdownable. I think that probably covers it.

Entries for The Week Junior Book Awards close on 6th April and the shortlists will be announced on 19th May.