Educational Writers’ Award Shortlist Revealed
The shortlist for the UK’s only award for creative educational writing features six outstanding books for readers aged 5-11.
We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the 2025 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award, the UK’s only award for educational writing that inspires creativity, encourages students to read widely and builds up their understanding of a subject beyond the requirements of exam specifications.
The shortlisted books for ages 5-11 encourage young readers to explore a wide array of topics, including the animal kingdom; the inner workings of the human body; practical physics; the quantum building blocks of our universe; art history, practice, and theory; and challenging neurodiversity stereotypes. The winner will be announced on 26 February at a ceremony at the Goldsmiths’ Centre in London with the winning author and designer/illustrator sharing a £2,000 prize.
This year’s judges are primary school headteacher Paul Massey, school librarian Tanja Jennings, and award-winning illustrator and animator Allen Fatimaharan.
The Shortlist
Hamza’s Wild World
Author: Hamza Yassin
Illustrator: Louise Forshaw
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books
Go on a wild adventure into the animal kingdom with naturalist, wildlife cameraman and winner of Strictly Come Dancing, Hamza Yassin.
Hamza’s Wild World brings you everything you will ever need to know about the animal kingdom in this fun, fascinating guide packed with hundreds of funny, smelly, awesome, scary, revolting, weird, cute, clever and AMAZING facts! With black and white line illustrations, photos and infographics throughout.
How to Make a Human
Author: Clive Gifford
Illustrator: Vanja Kragulj
Publisher: Weldon Owen Children’s Books
The best way to understand how something works is to take it apart and put it back together again, or to build it from scratch. But how would you make a human body? Where would you start? What would you need? And how would you fix everything together?
This book is a step-by-step guide – from gathering up the ingredients and multiplying cells to fitting organs and wiring up systems. A full set of operating instructions will help you to keep your human in good working order, too.
How To Spaghettify Your Dog
Author: Hiba Noor Khan
Illustrator: Harry Woodgate
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing UK
Have you ever wondered how to slow down time? Or what would happen if you fell into a black hole? Well, wonder no more. This book is bursting with fascinating physics facts that will explain everything you want to know, and more, about the curiosities of our cosmos.
Featuring easy-to-follow experiments, eye-catching illustrations and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, this book will demystify physics and bring science to life.
Quantum! The Strange Science of the Smallest Stuff in the Universe
Author: Christopher Edge
Illustrator: Paul Daviz
Publisher: Walker Books
Learn about the building blocks of our universe through the eyes of a quark: the smallest particle to exist! From the Big Bang to how stars are made; from gravity to black holes, this stunning, full-colour illustrated picture book will inspire and awe any reader. With mind-boggling facts and funny illustrations, Quantum! is a book for the curious, the dreamers and the science-mad!
This Book Will Make You an Artist
Author: Ruth Millington
Illustrator: Ellen Surrey
Publisher: Nosy Crow
This book will make YOU an artist as you explore 25 different art techniques – from cave painting to contemporary performance – inspired by ground-breaking artists from around the world. And discover famous masterpieces with photographs of real works of art!
Pick up your pencils, collect your collage materials and find out more about some of world’s best-known creatives in this fact-filled book full of step-by-step activities that are easy to try at home. Including information about tools, materials and basic art theory, this imaginative book is jam-packed with ideas for aspiring artists everywhere.
Wonderfully Wired Brains
Author: Louise Gooding
Illustrator: Ruth Burrows
Publisher: DK Children’s
Wonderfully Wired Brains teaches children aged 7-9 all about the awesome abilities that neurodiverse individuals have, introduces them to advocates who are challenging neurodiversity stereotypes, and most importantly gives them a safe space to feel accepted.
This inspirational book written by neurodiverse author Louise Gooding challenges misconceptions and shows how neurodivergent brains work a little differently. Our brains are unique in the way they function, work, and think. Neurodiversity is still a relatively ‘new’ concept that can be tricky to understand, but this book is here to help!
You can learn more about the Educational Writers’ Award here.
