The shortlists for the Nero Book Awards 2024 have been announced.

Launched in May 2023, and run as a not-for-profit, the Nero Book Awards celebrate the outstanding books of the previous 12 months across four award categories: Children’s Fiction, Debut Fiction, Fiction and Non-Fiction.

The Children’s Fiction category covers books aimed at young readers aged 9-15. This year’s judges are author Patrice Lawrence, bookshop owner Leanne Fridd and children’s festival programmer and reviewer Sarah Webb.

Commenting on this year’s shortlists, Gerry Ford, Founder and CEO of Caffè Nero, said, ‘Our goal is to inspire writers to write, readers to read and everyone to live a richer life through ideas and storytelling.’

Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and illustrators.

The 2024 Nero Book Awards: Children’s Fiction Shortlist

Bird Boy by Catherine Bruton (Nosy Crow).

How to Survive a Horror Movie by Scarlett Dunmore (Little Tiger).

The Twelve by Liz Hyder, illustrated by Tom de Freston (Pushkin Children’s Books).

Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody by Patrick Ness, illustrated by Tim Miller (Walker Books).

Visit the Nero Book Awards website to see this year’s shortlists for the adult Debut Fiction, Fiction and Non-Fiction categories.

The winners of each of the four categories will be announced on 14th January 2025. From these four category winners, an overall winner – The Nero Gold Prize –  will be selected by a final panel of judges and announced at a ceremony in March. Look out for our winner announcement!