At 10am on Tuesday 21st April, the shortlisted authors will be appearing live on the stage at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury. More than 1,200 children will be in the audience – either in the theatre or watching in their schools.

We’ll be celebrating the 6 wonderful books on the Book Award 2026 shortlist, hearing from the authors as they answer questions from the children who’ve been reading them.

We’ll be awarding prizes for art, poetry, letter-writing and film trailer competitions.

And… of course… we will be finding out which book has won the Shropshire Bookfest Big Book Award 2026!

To access the live stream of the event, follow this link: Awards Ceremony Live Stream

We’re thrilled that the launch of Book Award 2026, our hugely popular and successful reading development project for Years 5 & 6 and Key Stage 1, coincides with the start of the National Year of Reading.

During the year, more than 2,000 pupils across Shropshire are reading and voting for their favourite books published in the last 12 months from shortlists chosen by their peers. Along the way, they’re responding to the books through art, poetry, drama, discussion, letter-writing and film-making.

Click HERE to see details of the 6 shortlisted titles for Big Book Award 2026 for Years 5 & 6.

These have been selected from a longlist of over 70 titles nominated for the Award by top UK publishers, based on the feedback and recommendations of reading groups of Year 5 & 6 pupils in 12 Shropshire schools.

Meanwhile, we’ve received more than 70 very exciting nominations for Picture Book Award 2026. Key Stage 1 pupils in 8 Shropshire schools have been busy reading and discussing them. We’ve gathered in their feedback and are looking forward to revealing a very exciting shortlist for Picture Book Award 2026 in May!