Congrats to the robust list of winners!
A couple of weeks ago, the 2024 winners of The Diverse Book Awards were announced. There were so many great books that made the longlist and shortlist, but alas all of them could not take home the prize. But the winners and runners-up that made the cut are books that really highlight the necessity and importance of diverse books.
Created by award-winning author Abiola Bello and award-winning publicist Helen Lewis and co-founders of The Author School, this award aims to highlight the best of the diverse voices published in the UK & Ireland, this year focusing on those published during 2022, both traditionally and self-published.
And now without further ado, here are the winners:
Best Picture Book
To the Other Side by Erika Meza (Author)
My sister tells me the rules of the game are simple.
Avoid the monsters. Don’t get caught. And keep moving.
If the monsters catch you, you’re out.
A young boy and his older sister have left home to play a game. To win, they must travel across endless lands together and make it to the finish line. Each child imagines what might be waiting for them across the border: A spotted dog? Ice cream! Or maybe a new school.
But the journey is difficult, and the monsters are realer than they imagined. And when it no longer feels like a game, the two children must still find a way to forge ahead. (Credit: Katherine Tegen Books)
2nd Place
Not Now, Noor! by Farhana Islam and illustrated by Nabila Adani
3rd Place
A Hero Like Me by Jen Reid & Angela Joy and illustrated by Leire Salaberria (
Best Children’s Book
Steady For This by Nathanael Lessore
‘Yeah they call me Growls, I’m like a tiger on the prowl.King of jungles so you better take a bow. King of concrete so you better say it loud!’
Shaun (aka MC Growls) is ready to drop his best bars and smash the competition at Raptology. That way, he’s convinced Tanisha, his crush, will finally give him a chance.
But when a livestream practice goes epically wrong, Growls’s dirty laundry is literally exposed. He’s finally achieved his dreams of going viral – not in the good way.
Now Tanisha won’t look at him, he’s the joke of the school and there’s no way he can show his face at the competition. Will he ever catch a break?
Then a new girl on the block appears who might be just the friend Growls needs. Especially when she points out that Raptology could be the answer to his problems after all. . .
STEP UP TO THE MIC! It’s MC Growls and he’s ready for this. He’s steady for this. It’s comeback season and they call him comeback king for a reason.
2nd Place
Safiyyah’s War by Hiba Noor Khan
3rd Place
The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow
Best Young Adult Book
The First Move by Jenny Ireland
Juliet believes girls like her – girls with arthritis – don’t get their own love stories. She exists at the edges of her friends’ social lives, skipping parties to play online chess under a pseudonym with strangers around the world. There, she isn’t just ‘the girl with crutches’.
Ronan is the new kid: good looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. Chesslife is his escape.
Juliet thinks Ronan thinks someone like Ronan could never be interested in someone like her – and she wouldn’t want him to be anyway – he always acts like he’s cooler than everyone else.
Little do they know they’ve already discovered each other online, and have more in common than they think . . .(Credit: Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
2nd Place
Away With Words by Sophie Cameron
3rd Place
A Million To One by Adiba Jaigirdar
Best Adult Book
Maame by Jessica George
It’s fair to say that Maddie’s life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie is the primary caretaker for her father, who suffers from advanced stage Parkinson’s. At work, her boss is a nightmare and Maddie is tired of always being the only Black person in every meeting.
So when her mum returns from her latest trip, Maddie seizes the chance to move out of the family home and finally start living. A self-acknowledged late bloomer, she’s ready to experience some important “firsts” She finds a flat share, says yes to after-work drinks, pushes for more recognition in her career, and throws herself into the bewildering world of internet dating. But when tragedy strikes, Maddie is forced to face the true nature of her unconventional family, and the perils–and rewards–of putting her heart on the line.
Smart, funny, and affecting, Jessica George’s Maame deals with the themes of our time with humor and poignancy: from familial duty and racism, to female pleasure, the complexity of love, and the life-saving power of friendship. Most important, it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures―and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong.(Credit: St. Martin’s Griffin)
2nd Place
Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson
The Readers’ Choice Awards 2024 Winners
This was the second year The Readers’ Choice Awards was given out. This award was created in response of requests from schools to have more of a say in the awards. In the end, the committee decided to have a poll with all the longlisted books and encouraged readers to vote for their personal favorites across each category.
So without further ado, here are the 2024 winners of the inaugural The Readers’ Choice Awards
Readers’ Choice Award 2024 – Picture Books
- First Place: Thunderboots by Naomi Jones and illustrated by Rebecca Ashdown
- Second Place: I’m Going To Be A Princess by Stephanie Taylor, illustrated by Jade Orlando
- Third Place: Not Now Noor by Farhana Islam, illustrated by Nabila Adani
Readers’ Choice Award 2024 – Children
- First Place: Safiyyah’s War by Hiba Noor Khan
- Second Place: Glitter Boy by Ian Eagleton
- Third Place: Dreamweavers: Night of the Scary Fairies by Annabelle Sami, illustrated by Forrest Burdett
Readers’ Choice Award 2023 – YA
- First Place: Boy Like Me by Simon James Green
- Second Place: All The Things They Said We Couldn’t Have: Stories of Trans Joy by T.C. Oakes-Monger
- Third Place: You Think You Know Me by Ayaan Mohamud
Readers’ Choice Award 2023 – Adult
- First Place: Until Proven Innocent by Nicola Williams
- Second Place: Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
- Third Place: Ghost Girl, Banana by Wiz Wharton
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