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ASLA DANZ Children’s Book Award winners announced

The Australian School Library Association (ASLA) has announced the 2025 Diversity in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (DANZ) Children’s Book Award winners.

Winning titles, chosen from a shortlist announced in April, are:

Graphic novel

Nonfiction

  • The Trees (Victor Steffensen, illus by Sandra Steffensen, HG Explore)

Poetry

  • Pasifika Navigators (52 Pasifika student authors, Mila’s Books)

YA

  • Catch a Falling Star (Eileen Merriman, Penguin).

The award program recognises children’s books published in Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand that push boundaries, challenge stereotypes, and celebrate diverse and marginalised people and communities, including those representing disability, culture, LGBTQI+ identities, race and religion.

ASLA president Martha Itzcovitz said: ‘The ASLA DANZ Awards not only recognise fiction that celebrates diverse voices and experiences; the longlist is [also] a valuable curation tool for school libraries, teachers, booksellers and parents. It is a comprehensive listing of the books that not only have sensitive and accurate representation of marginalised people and groups, they are [also] books that have, most importantly, been given a seal of approval by children themselves.’

The 2025 winners were announced at an awards event at the GMHBA Stadium in Geelong. 

This award program was established last year, with alternating award categories. The inaugural winners were Come Over to My House (Sally Rippin & Eliza Hull, illus by Daniel Gray-Barnett, HGCP) in the picture book category, Maku (Meyne Wyatt, Pan) in the chapter book category, and The Wintrish Girl (Melanie La’Brooy, UQP) in the middle-grade category.

More information about the awards and winners is available on the ASLA website.

 

Category: Awards Local news