The Spark! School Book Awards are a book award and reading for pleasure project designed to help schools create a buzz around reading. The awards provide teachers and pupils with the opportunity to read, discuss and vote for their favourite book from a shortlist selected by a panel of teachers, educationalists and librarians.

There are five award categories to ensure that all young readers from Early Years to secondary can get involved:

• Picture fiction for early readers
• Fiction for 7+
• Fiction for 9+
• Fiction for 11+
• Guest category: the guest category for this year is Graphic Novels for Primary Schools.

The awards are open to all UK primary and secondary schools and schools can sign up to participate in as many of the award categories as they like. Participating schools will receive:

• A free set of the shortlisted titles for the relevant category or categories, along with access to assorted classroom resources.
• Access to at least one online author event per shortlisted book, plus a bespoke introductory video.
• Access to the online author events from previous years.
• The opportunity for pupils to enter a range of competitions.
• An invitation to the online Award Ceremony.

Timetable:

• Final deadline for registration is Friday 2nd February.
• The shortlists are announced in January.
• Voting runs from mid May to mid June.
• The winners are announced in July.

See the shortlists for 2023-2024 here.

Cost: £65 for each award category that schools participate in.

About Spark! School Book Awards: The Spark! School Book Awards is a registered charity, working in partnership with The Open University to inspire young readers everywhere.