Wilderness Society announces 2026 Karajia, environment award shortlists
The Wilderness Society has announced the shortlists for the 2026 Environment Award for Children’s Literature and Karajia Award for Children’s Literature.
The shortlisted titles in each category are:
Environment Award for Children’s Literature
Fiction
- The Brightest Wild (Tania Crampton-Larking, Lothian Children’s Books)
- Song of a Thousand Seas (Zana Fraillon, University of Queensland Press)
- Spirit of the Crocodile (Aaron Fa’Aoso & Michelle Scott Tucker, with Lyn White, A&U Children’s).
Nonfiction
- Creature Corridors (Billie Rooney, illustrated by Anke Noack, CSIRO Publishing)
- Find Me on the Coast (Jess McGeachin, Lothian Children’s Books)
- Ningaloo (Tim Winton, illustrated by Cindy Lane, Fremantle Press)
- Wombat Poos Are Square (Sophie Gillies, illustrated by Karen Erasmus, CSIRO Publishing).
Picture fiction
- Animals on Country (Victor Steffensen, illustrated by Sandra Steffensen, A&U Children’s)
- One Koala, One Hundred Trees (Leesa Allinson, illustrated by Heather Potter & Mark Jackson, Wild Dog Books)
- Prayer for a River (Uncle Glenn Loughrey & Andrew Kelly, illustrated by Uncle Glenn Loughrey, Wild Dog Books)
- Save the Gumtrees (Luke John Matthew Arnold, Scholastic Press).
Karajia Award for Children’s Literature
Fiction
- A Good Kind of Trouble (Brooke Blurton & Melanie Saward, HarperCollins)
- Spirit of the Crocodile (Aaron Fa’Aoso & Michelle Scott Tucker, with Lyn White, A&U Children’s)
- Washpool (Lisa Fuller, Lothian Children’s Books).
Nonfiction
- The First Sunrise (Vanessa Stevens, illustrated by Paul Seden, Magabala Books)
- Sweet Home: Stories of Country and Family (Students from Ḏawurr Boarding, Daydae Yunupingu, Indigenous Literacy Foundation).
Picture fiction
- Adventures on the Dreaming Path (Paul Callaghan, illustrated by Dylan Finney, Pantera Press)
- Animals on Country (Victor Steffensen, illustrated by Sandra Steffensen, A&U Children’s)
- Dreaming: Welcome to Our Country (Adam Goodes & Ellie Laing, illustrated by David Hardy, A&U Children’s)
- Earthspeak (Sean McCann, illustrated by Jade Goodwin, A&U Children’s)
- Gulun (Children at Yirrkala School, Indigenous Literacy Foundation)
- How Big Is Love? (Carl Merrison & Hakea Hustler, illustrated by Jade Goodwin, Lothian Children’s Books)
- Our Dance (Jacinta Daniher & Taylor Hampton, illustrated by Janelle Burger, Lothian Children’s Books).
The winners of the book awards will be announced during the Wilderness Society’s Nature Book Week, 10–18 October 2026.
Created in 1994, the Environment Award for Children’s Literature aims “to champion stories that inspire curiosity, care and wonder for the living world”. The judging panel this year includes musician John Williamson, writer, educator and scientist Kristin Darell, and climate scientist and science communicator Linden Ashcroft.
The Karajia Award for Children’s Literature “honours First Nations storytelling that carries knowledge of Country, culture, language and community”. Judges for the awards include Aunty Munya Andrews, journalist Marlee Silva, and television presenter, educator and advocate Shelley Ware.
Nature Book Week ambassador Jen Martin said, “For over 3 decades, the Wilderness Society’s Karajia and Environment Awards for Children’s Literature have celebrated stories that invite children into the living world around them – awakening care for nature and deepening connection to Country, culture, and place.”
Last year’s winners included Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra (Cassy Polimeni, illustrated by Hykie Breeze, UWAP), Tree (Claire Saxby, illustrated by Jess Racklyeft, A&U Children’s), Afloat (Kirli Saunders, illustrated by Freya Blackwood, HGCP), When the World Was Soft (Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation, illustrated by Alex Mankiewicz, A&U Children’s), Ask Aunty: Bush Survival Skills (Aunty Munya Andrews, illustrated by Charmaine Ledden-Lewis, Hardie Grant Explore) and The Moon Story (written and illustrated by Marshia Cook, with some illustrations by Tamua Nuggett, ILF).
More information about the awards is available on the Wilderness Society website.
Category: Awards Local news
