On the 25th of March, the shortlist for the 80th CBCA Awards were announced. Whilst many of the ones I hoped would get through didn’t, there were some good ones that did get through, and that appear to be around certain themes. Some of the shortlisted books that I haven’t read look good, and the below list comes straight from the CBCA website.
Presenting the 2025 CBCA Book of the Year Awards Older Readers Shortlist …
- A 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)
Presenting the 2025 CBCA 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)
Introducing the 2025 CBCA 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)
Introducing the 2025 CBCA 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)
- 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)
Introducing the 2025 CBCA 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)
Introducing the 2025 CBCA 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)
- Raymaŋgirrbuy dhäwu, When I was a little girl, Kylie Gatjawarrawuy Mununggurr (Magabala Books)
- The Land Recalls You, David Cragg & Noni Cragg (Scholastic Australia)
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