All-Female Authors Win 2026 IBC Awards

The 2026 Inclusive Books for Children (IBC) awards have exclusively recognized six female authors, marking the second consecutive year this has occurred since the awards' inception in 2023. Winners will share a £30,000 prize fund and present their work at the Hay Festival in May.

Chanté Timothy's "Supa Nova," a graphic novel celebrating a young Black girl's scientific curiosity, earned the children's fiction award and the inaugural children's choice prize. Other accolades included "The Beautiful Layers of Me" for picture books and "Let's Play" for the baby and toddler category.

These prestigious awards champion inclusive UK-published titles for children aged one to nine. A panel of educators, authors, and illustrators selected the winning entries, praising their compelling storytelling and authentic representation. The introduction of children's choice awards, voted on by primary school pupils nationwide, aims to foster a greater love for reading.

This year's awards coincide with the government's National Year of Reading campaign. The initiative aims to boost reading enjoyment, which recent research indicates is at a historic low among young people in the UK. This effort addresses a concerning trend in children's publishing, as a previous IBC report highlighted a significant decline in books featuring Black main characters.