CBCA Book of the Year shortlists 2025
The shortlists for the CBCA Book Awards have been announced:
Book of the Year Awards Older Readers shortlistA Wreck of Seabirds by Karleah Olson (Fremantle Press)
Birdy by Sharon Kernot (Text Publishing)
Comes the Night by Isobelle Carmody (A&U Books for Children and Young Adults)
I’m Not Really Here by Gary Lonesborough (A&U Books for Children and Young Adults)
Into the Mouth of the Wolf by Erin Gough (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
The Skin I’m In by Steph Tisdell (Macmillan Australia)
Book of the Year Awards Younger Readers shortlist
Aggie Flea Steals the Show by Tania Ingram, illustrated by A. Yi (Scholastic Australia)
Fluff: Mess Up! by Matt Stanton, illustrated by Matt Stanton (ABC Books)
Laughter is the Best Ending by Maryam Master, illustrated by Astred Hicks (Pan Australia)
Saskia Spark-Lee: Fundraiser Fail by Rebecka Sharpe Shelberg, illustrated by Sofya Karmazina (Walker Books Australia)
Tigg and the Bandicoot Bushranger by Jackie French (HarperCollins AU)
To and Fro by Anton Clifford-Motopi (A&U Books for Children and Young Adults)
Book of the Year Awards Early Childhood shortlist
Don’t Worry, Felix by Yohann Devezy & Katharine Alice, illustrated by Zoe Bennett (New Frontier Publishing)
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Tooth Fairy (And Some Things You Didn’t) by Briony Stewart (Lothian Children’s Books)
How to Move a Zoo by Kate Simpson, illustrated by Owen Swan (A&U Books for Children and Young Adults)
One Little Dung Beetle by Rhian Williams, illustrated by Heather Potter & Mark Jackson (Wild Dog Books)
Spiro by Anna McGregor (Scribble)
The Wobbly Bike by Darren McCallum, illustrated by Craig Smith (Walker Books Australia)
Book of the Year Awards Picture Book of the Year shortlist
Afloat by Freya Blackwood, text by Kirli Saunders (Little Hare)
The Garden of Broken Things by Freya Blackwood (HarperCollins AU)
A Leaf Called Greaf by Kelly Canby (Fremantle Press) https://www.readplus.com.au/reviews/a-leaf-called-greaf
These Long-Loved Things by Ronojoy Ghosh, text by Josh Pyke (Scholastic Australia)
The Truck Cat by Danny Snell, text by Deborah Frenkel (Bright Light)
We Live in a Bus by Dave Petzold (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Book of the Year Awards Eve Pownall Award shortlist
Always Was, Always Will Be by Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson (Magabala Books)
Design & Building on Country by Alison Page & Paul Memmott, illustrated by Blak Douglas (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Flora: Australia’s Most Curious Plants by Tania McCartney (NLA Publishing)
I am a Magpie, I am a Currawong by Bridget Farmer (Black Cockatoo Books)
Making the Shrine: Stories From Victoria’s War Memorial by Laura J Carroll (The Crossley Press)
South With the Seabirds by Jess McGeachin (A&U Books for Children and Young Adults)
Book of the Year Awards New Illustrator shortlist
A Teaspoon of Light, Nisaluk Chantanakom (WestWords)
Digger Digs Down, Huni Melissa Bolliger (University of Queensland Press)
Grow Big, Little Seed, Sarah Capon (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Peek-a-Boo Lottie, Kristen Willis (Five Mile Books)
Raymangirrbuy dhäwu, When I was a little girl, Kylie Gatjawarrawuy Mununggurr (Magabala Books)
The Land Recalls You, David Cragg & Noni Cragg (Scholastic Australia)