Information Book Award

SLA Information Book Award

The Information Book Award supports school librarians celebrate the value of information books available for children and young people.

Reading information books for personal interest and pleasure gives children and young people the opportunity to follow their natural curiosity, explore new areas of knowledge and build on existing interests. The books they encounter will provide models for their own writing.

The Information Book Awards brings together a panel of expert judges who select the winning titles in the three age categories. Thousands of children participating in the IBA Book Club vote for the Children’s Choice in each category and an overall favourite. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony, bringing together representatives from across publishing, libraries and the education community.

The Information Book Award is sponsored by DK.
DK is a global publisher of internationally bestselling authors and illustrators across fiction, non-fiction, adult and children’s publishing. They have been pioneering ways to bring knowledge and adventure to people around the world for over 50 years.

IBA News

Information Book Award: Announcing the 2026 Shortlist

Announcing the IBA shortlist and new sponsorship from DK, the UK’s number one children’s non-fiction publisher

Download your 2026 Information Book Award Poster.

IBA Book Club for Schools

1600 children took part in the Information Book Award Book Club in 2025. Registration for 2026 has now closed but your school can still take part by purchasing a discounted set of shortlisted books from Peters and downloading our free resources.

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Book Club Resources 202 6

Download our resource to help you run a successful and engaging book club in your school! Designed as a book club programme, our IBA Toolkit can be used an adaptable ideas bank, helping your pupils to engage with the award in a way that works for your setting. We've also put together more information about all the shortlisted books, with suggested activities and discussion topics for each title.

Children's Choice Awards

In each category, as well as a winner decided by the judging panel, another winner is decided by the children's choice vote. School librarians support their pupils to explore the books and vote for their favourite. Download our book club resources for ideas on how to help pupils nominate their favourite books, including discussing and choosing titles based on different judging criteria.

Buy the 2026 Shortlist

Peters have book packs available for each age category in the Information Book Award shortlist, offering 20% off RRP. These book packs make it easy for you to access all the shortlisted titles in one convenient delivery! Use the books alongside our book club resources for schools to make sure you have everything you need to engage with this year's outstanding selection of information books and help your pupils discover their favourites.

Training

The School Library Association offers a wide range of on demand and real time training to enhance the personal and professional development of everyone who works in school libraries.

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