In a time when we may all be forgiven for thinking the end of days is near, along comes Davina Bell with her young adult fiction, The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love, winner of the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers. This award was announced and presented today by non-other than former PM Julia Gillard. What a great way to kick off the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year Awards!
If you’d like to check out the full event for yourself you can click here to see the announcements. And of course, continue browsing below for all the winners and honourable mentions in all categories. So without further ado, here’s the rest of the winners from this year’s awards.
2021 CBCA Book Of The Year: Older Readers
Books in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for secondary school kids (ages 13-18 years). Some books in this category are for mature readers and some may deal with particularly challenging themes including violence and suicide, where parental guidance is recommended.
Winner 
Honours 
Honours
The winner is ‘The End of the World is Bigger than Love’ by Davina Bell (Text Publishing).
Honours: ‘Metal Fish, Falling Snow’ by Cath Moore (Text Publishing) and “Where We Begin” by Christie Nieman (Pan Macmillan Australia).
2021 CBCA Book Of The Year: Younger Readers
Books in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and should be appropriate in style and content for the primary school kids. (ages 7-12 years)
Winner 
Honours Honours
The winner is ‘Aster’s Good, Right Thing’ by Kate Gordon (published by Riveted Press).
Honours: ‘The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst’ by Jaclyn Moriarty & illustrated by Kelly Canby (Allen & Unwin) – ‘Worse Things’ by Sally Murphy & illustrated by Sarah Davis (Walker Books).
2021 CBCA Picture Book Of The Year
Books in this category are for readers of all ages. The Award recognises excellence in books in which the author and illustrator achieve artistic and literary unity or in wordless picture books where the story, theme or concept is unified through illustrations.
Winner 
Honours 
Honours
The winner is ‘How to Make a Bird’ by Meg McKinlay, illustrated by Matt Ottley (Walker Books Australia), please check my review of it here. Happy to report that this winner was my prediction!
Honours: ‘Not Cute’ by Philip Bunting (Scholastic Australia) and ‘Your Birthday Was the Best!’ by Maggie Hutchings, illustrated by Felicita Sala (Affirm Press).
2021 CBCA Eve Pownall Award
Books in this category are for all ages with a prime intention of documenting factual material with imaginative presentation, interpretation and style. This award was first presented in 1988 at which time it was financed by Eve Pownall’s family. From 1993 it has been awarded by CBCA.
Winner 
Honours 
Honours
The winner is ‘Dry to Dry: The Seasons of Kakadu’ by Pamela Freeman, illustrated by Liz Anelli (Walker Books Australia).
Honours: ‘The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animal’ by Sami Bayly (Hachette Australia) and ‘Strangers on Country’ by David Hartley & Kirsty Murray, illustrated by Dub Leffler (National Library of Australia).
2021 CBCA Book Of The Year: Early Childhood
Books in this category are for pre-reading stages or for early readers (typically of ages 0-6 years). Books include fiction or poetry.
Winner 
Honours 
Honours
The winner is ‘No! Never!’ by Libby Hathorn & Lisa Hathorn-Jarman, illustrated by Mel Pearce (Hachette Australia).
Honours: ‘Anemone is not the Enemy’ by Anna McGregor (Scribble Kids’ Books) and ‘We Love You, Magoo’ by Briony Stewart (Penguin Random House Australia).
2021 CBCA New Illustrator Award
Books in this category are for all ages and award a new illustrator’s excellence, recognising and encouraging new talent in the field of Australian children’s book illustration.
The winner is ‘This Small Blue Dot‘ by Zeno Sworder (Thames & Hudson Australia).
Read more about CBCA and Book of the Year Awards here. Check out the 2021 Shortlisted books across 6 categories. Read my review of “How to Make a Bird” – the 2021 winner in Picture book category.
Such interesting books – you need friends with children to send some as gifts :)))
I was certainly brought up with a notion that a book is the best gift for any occasion. So if you have friends with children, by all means, anything on CBCA shortlist can be trusted (tried and tested these on my own son numerous times!)