This Book Will Make You an Artist wins 2025 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award
This Book Will Make You an Artist, written by Ruth Millington and illustrated by Ellen Surrey, wins the UK’s only award for creative educational writing.
Both author and illustrator received the ALCS Educational Writers’ Award, along with a prize of £2,000, at last night’s ALCS Annual Awards ceremony at the Goldsmiths’ Centre in London.
This Book Will Make You an Artist encourages readers to explore 25 different art techniques – from cave painting to contemporary performance – inspired by ground-breaking artists from around the world.
On winning the award, Ruth Millington said:
“I’m really shocked and honoured. I think in a world of AI and scrolling, human made art is more important than ever. That’s why I think this book is really important. I’ve been round the country teaching children workshops with this book, and the response has been amazing. And a lot of the kids and their parents have told me they feel this pressure to be perfect, and with art you don’t have to be perfect. You can experiment and unlock creativity and imagination, and that’s hopefully what this book does.”
The 2025 shortlist for ages 5-11 encouraged 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.
This year’s judges are primary school headteacher Paul Massey, school librarian Tanja Jennings, and award-winning illustrator and animator Allen Fatimaharan.
Judge Tanja Jennings said of the shortlist: “It was a joyful experience being part of the judging panel for the ALCS Educational Writers Award for 2025. Our shortlist zings with creativity, knowledge, colour and energy.”
“With titles celebrating what it means to be a human encouraging young readers to be creative, to enquire, to explore, to interact, to wonder about the miracles of the human body, to uncover the secrets of the natural world, to reflect upon the building blocks of the universe and ultimately to express themselves, the books facilitate sharing and learning. Complex topics are presented in lively ways bringing about awareness of the infinite possibilities of being.”
You can learn more about the ALCS Educational Writers’ Award here.
