Wilderness Awards  2025

The 2025 Karajia and Environment Award Winners, stories that connect kids to Country and nature have been announced. They were announced at 11am on the 11^th of October on Love Your Bookshop Day, which is also the start of Nature Books Week.

These awards celebrate authors and illustrators who have written and created stories to help and inspire young reader to understand, love, and care for the natural world. The Environment Award is in its 31^st year, and has been running since 1994. It’s an award that recognises books that nuture curiosity and interest in the environment and everything about it. The Karajia Award was started in 2022, and honours First Nations stories about their connections to Country and the natural world, their culture and community.

This year’s winners are:

2025 WINNERS

Fiction

• Karajia Award: When the World Was Soft — Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation, illustrated by Alex Mankiewicz (Allen & Unwin, Ages 10+)
• Environment Award: Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra — Cassy Polimeni, illustrated by Hykie Breeze (UWA Publishing, Ages 8+)

Non-fiction

• Karajia Award: Ask Aunty: Bush Survival Skills — Aunty Munya Andrews, illustrated by Charmaine Ledden-Lewis (Hardie Grant Explore, Ages 5–6+)
• Environment Award: Tree — Claire Saxby, illustrated by Jess Racklyeft (Allen & Unwin, Ages 5–6+)

Picture Fiction

• Karajia Award: The Moon Story — written and illustrated by Marshia Cook, with Tamua Nuggett (Indigenous Literacy Foundation, Ages 5–6+)
• Environment Award: Afloat — Kirli Saunders, illustrated by Freya Blackwood (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, Ages 6+)

These winners were selected from the following shortlists:

2025 shortlist: Environment Award for Children’s Literature

Picture Fiction

• Afloat, Written by Kirli Saunders and illustrated by Freya Blackwood, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing
• Our World Full of Wonder, Written by Jevita Nilson and illustrated by Jess Racklyeft, CSIRO Publishing
• Country, Written by Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson and illustrated by Cheryl Davison, Wild Dog Books
• Voice of the Sea, Written by John Williamson and illustrated by Andrea Innocent & Jonathan Chong, Penguin Random House Australia
• General Waste, Written and illustrated by Michel Streich, Scholastic Australia

Fiction

• Mission Wildlife Rescue, Written by Pat Cummins and Dave Hartley, and illustrated by Serena Geddes, HarperCollins Publishers
• Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra — Cassy Polimeni, illustrated by Hykie Breeze (UWA Publishing, Ages 8+)
• The Apprentice Witnesser, Written by Bren MacDibble, Allen & Unwin
• Taronga presents: Baby Boom, Written by Kristin Darell, Penguin Random House Australia

Non-fiction

• Nightlife, Written and illustrated by Sandra Kendell, Windy Hollow Books
• Tree, Written by Claire Saxby and illustrated by Jess Racklyeft, Allen & Unwin
• Seed to Sky: Life in the Daintree, Written by Pamela Freeman and illustrated by Liz Anelli, Walker Books Australia
• Jiggliest Jellyfish, Written by Emma Flannery and Tim Flannery, and illustrated by Katie Melrose, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing

2025 shortlist: Karajia Award for Children’s Literature

Picture Fiction

• bagan, barra barra, mirriwarr (The Boys Who Found Their Way), Written by Tyran Uddin and Kayden Wellington, with Kirli Saunders and Jaz Corr; illustrated by Vincentia High School, with Kirli Saunders and Jaz Corr, Indigenous Literacy Foundation
• Afloat, Written by Kirli Saunders and illustrated by Freya Blackwood, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing
• Miimi and Buwaarr, Mother and Baby, Written and illustrated by Melissa Greenwood, HarperCollins Publishers
• For 60,000 Years, Written by Marlee Silva and illustrated by Rhys Paddick, Scholastic Australia
• The Moon Story, Written and illustrated by Marshia Cook, with some illustrations by Tamua Nuggett, Indigenous Literacy Foundation

Fiction

• When the World Was Soft, Written by Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation and illustrated by Alex Mankiewicz, Allen & Unwin
• Wurrtoo, Written by Tylissa Elisara and illustrated by Dylan Finney, Hachette Australia

Non-fiction

• ngayawanj bagan-nggul, ngayawanj barra barra-nggul (we belong to the land, we belong to the sea), Written by Vincentia High School, with Kirli Saunders and Jaz Corr, Indigenous Literacy Foundation
• Walking the Rock Country in Kakadu, Written by Diane Lucas and Ben Tyler, illustrated by Emma Long, Allen & Unwin
• Ask Aunty: Bush Survival Skills, Written by Aunty Munya Andrews and illustrated by Charmaine Ledden-Lewis, Hardie Grant Explore
• Always Was, Always Will Be, Written by Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson, Magabala Books