The National Children’s Book Awards (NCBA) is the country’s premiere award for locally published children’s and young adult books. A carefully-selected board of experts made up of authors, illustrators, critics, book designers, and book production specialists is convened to evaluate titles published in a two-year period. More recently, a board of young readers has also been convened so that young people themselves can make their voices heard about their favorite books. Other NGOs have also participated in the initiative to spotlight special categories in this broad field.

[Scroll down to view our gallery of winning books.]

Unlike other contests, the NCBA selects an honors list called the Best Reads, avoiding the competitiveness that characterizes the traditional rankings of first, second, and third places. The Best Reads can reach a maximum of ten honorees. To underline the commitment to quality, the judges are informed beforehand that they are under no obligation to pick any honoree if they feel that a specific batch offers no entry that comes up to the standards set by the board. This is why during the awards ceremony, judges are asked to explain the reasons for their selection. Thus the awards ceremony serves as an educational moment for the audience and the reading public at large.

In this way, the NCBA hopes to:

a) make the public appreciate that a book is the product of teamwork among different sectors in the book industry: authors, illustrators, editors, publishers and printers all play important roles in a good book.

b) make the public aware of how the book industry works in general

c) provide the reading public regular snapshots of the state of the children’s book industry in general

d) open the imagination of creative workers to the many forms and possibilities of children’s books