Australian CYA award winners
These are the Australian titles that have been making shortlists, longlists and winning awards – both in Australia and overseas.
Darren Rix and Craig Cormick’s Warra Warra Wai (Scribner) won the Australian History Prize at the NSW History Awards, the ACT Book of the Year award, the First Nations History Award at the Canberra Critics’ Circle Awards and the nonfiction award (joint winner) at the Marion ACT Literary Awards. Books+Publishing reviewer Adam Novaldy said, “Warra Warra Wai visits the sites that James Cook’s crew irrevocably changed by hand, flag, pen or presence. Gazing at the Endeavour from the land and vice versa, Darren Rix and Craig Cormick tread the dual pathways of First Nations and Western ways of knowing.”
The middle-grade book Leo and Ralph by Peter Carnavas (UQP) won the children’s category of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards (PMLA) and the Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA). In the book, “Leo finds that saying goodbye to an imaginary friend is harder than dreaming one into the world. How will Leo make a new start with an imaginary friend who refuses to give up on him?”
Titles shortlisted in the PMLA children’s category included A Leaf Called Greaf (Kelly Canby, Fremantle), Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Tooth Fairy (And Some Things You Didn’t) (Briony Stewart, Lothian), Raymaŋgirrbuy dhäwu, When I was a little girl (Kylie Gatjawarrawuy Mununggurr, Magabala) and We Live in a Bus (Dave Petzold, T&H).
This Stays Between Us (Margot McGovern, Penguin) won the John Marsden Prize for Writing for Young Adults at the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards (VPLAs). Books+Publishing reviewer Angela Crocombe said the author “balances the characters’ individual struggles with their collective fight for survival, creating a tightly woven narrative that is both terrifying and compelling. With four captivating young women trying to survive the horrors of Smiling Jack, this novel is as chilling as it is well-written.”
Moonlight and Dust (Jasmin McGaughey, A&U Children’s) was shortlisted for the John Marsden Prize for Writing for Young Adults, while How to Be Normal (Ange Crawford, Walker Books) was shortlisted for the same prize, along with the Readings Young Adult Prize.
Once I Was a Giant (Zeno Sworder, T&H), a picture book where the tree is the protagonist and hero, won the children’s literature category at the VPLAs. Books+Publishing reviewer Jess Lomas described the book as “a poetic and richly drawn picture book about memory, connection and renewal”.
The other titles shortlisted for the children’s literature category at the VPLAs were Caution! This Book Contains Deadly Reptiles (Corey Tutt & Ben Williams, A&U Children’s), Creature Clinic (Gavin Aung Than, HGCP) and The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe (Karen Foxlee, A&U Children’s).
Australian independent booksellers recently announced the winners of the 2026 Indie Book Awards, with Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow: Nevermoor 4 (Jessica Townsend, Lothian) winning in the children’s category and Eleanor Jones Is Playing with Fire (Amy Doak, Penguin) winning in the YA category.
The verse novel Little Bones (Sandy Bigna, UQP) won the Children’s Book Award at the Queensland Literary Awards and the award for best children’s fiction at the 2025 Aurealis Awards for science fiction, fantasy and horror writing. Upon acquiring the US rights, Krista Vitola at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers said, “Little Bones is the kind of novel that nestles into your heart and stays with you forever.”
Suzanne Leal won the ARA Historical Novel Prize in the children and young adult category for The Year We Escaped (HarperCollins), while Raidah Shah Idil won the Readings Children’s Prize for How to Free a Jinn (A&U Children’s).
Tull Suwannakit’s picture book Higher Ground (New Frontier) has been longlisted for the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Illustration in the UK. Judges said, “Suwannakit’s scrapbook style used in Higher Ground portrays a family’s journey of survival on their roof garden after a great flood.”
Finally, the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has this week announced the highly influential shortlist for its Book of the Year award.
Category: Think Australian awards
