Children's Fiction and Picture Book Award 2025

Winner: Lockie, The Famous City Dog by Sandra Ruddle

Highly Commended: Sophie's Story by Lynley Barnett

Commended:  The Dog Who Wanted to Fly by Helen Iles

JUDGE'S REPORT by Teena Raffa-Mulligan

 It was a privilege to be asked to judge the entries in the children’s books category of your inaugural Book Awards, which attracted five picture books and one junior fiction entry, all of which would have been worthy winners. As authors, we put our heart and soul and all we have learnt into crafting the best story we can to share with our readers. It is never an easy task to judge one creative work over another.

All of the books submitted to the award had reader appeal and were produced to a professional standard, though the picture books did not comply to the 24 or 32-page format considered standard for the genre and intended age group. I would also like to have seen some of the texts more tightly edited.

In choosing a winner, I scored the entries on story-telling ability, writing technique and how the illustrations worked with the text. I looked at originality, reader appeal, story pacing, language and illustration suitability for the intended age group, whether I was engaged with the characters, and how the voice of the story helped me relate to the characters and ideas. Entries were also scored on my response to the story – was I engaged from the start, did I enjoy reading it, and in my opinion, did the book have a ‘wow’ factor?

Now for the results… The Recommended award goes to the picture book, The Dog who Wanted to Fly, written and illustrated by Helen Iles. This engaging tale is about a dog whose dream of flying like a bird comes true in an unexpected way and has plenty of reader appeal for the age group.

The Highly Recommended is Sophie’s Story by Lynley Barnett with illustrations by Helen Iles, which aims to help young readers come to terms with living between two homes after their parents have divorced. Told from Sophie’s perspective in an easy, relatable voice, it delivers an important message for young readers going through a similar experience.

In First place is Lockie, The Famous City Dog by Sandra Ruddle. This book wins on ‘wow’ factor. An appealing story about a loveable large dog that lives in the city, it will delight young readers as Lockie takes them along on his travels to some of Perth’s landmarks and features in the day’s TV news report. Rina Bhabra’s lively, energetic illustrations bring Lockie’s story vividly to life on the page.

Congratulations to all the entrants. Keep writing your books for young readers. It is more important than ever in this age of technology that we encourage our children to enjoy stories and explore the world of their own imagination.

Teena Raffa-Mulligan