These books reflect the breadth of children’s literature written by Australians. They also reflect our aim to promote quality reading for young Australians of a wide age-range and reader ability. The winners of the CBCA Book of the Year Awards will be announced on August 15. More information about the CBCA Awards and this year’s Notables list is available on the CBCA website: https://cbca.org.au/2025-notables/
| CBCA Book of the Year Shortlist 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Older Readers | |
| Birdy | Sharon Kernot |
| Comes the Night | Isobelle Carmody |
| I'm Not Really Here | Gary Lonesborough |
| Into the Mouth of the Wolf | Erin Gough |
| The Skin I'm In | Steph Tisdell |
| A Wreck of Seabirds | |
| Younger Readers | |
| Aggie Flea Steals the Show ! | Tania Ingram, illustrated by Anne Yi |
| Fluff Mess Up | Matt Stanton |
| Laughter is the Best Ending | Maryam Master, illustrated by Astred Hicks |
| Saskia Spark-Lee: Fundraiser Fail | Rebecka Sharpe Shelberg, illustrated by Sofya Karmazina |
| Tigg and the Bandicoot Bushranger | Jackie French |
| To and Fro | Anton Clifford-Motopi |
| Early Childhood | |
| Don't Worry, Felix | Yohann Devezy and Katharine Alice, illustrated by Zoe Bennett |
| Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the Tooth Fairy (And Some Things You Didn't) | Briony Stewart |
| How to Move a Zoo | Kate Simpson, illustrated by Owen Swan |
| One Little Dung Beetle | Rhian Williams, illustrated by Heather Potter and Mark Jackson |
| Spiro | Anna McGregor |
| The Wobbly Bike | Darren McCallum, illustrated by Craig Smith |
| Picture Book of the Year | |
| A Leaf Called Greaf | Kelly Canby |
| Afloat | Kirli Saunders, illustrated by Freya Blackwood |
| The Garden of Broken Things | Freya Blackwood |
| These Long-Loved Things | Josh Pyke, illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh |
| The Truck Cat | Deborah Frenkel, illustrated by Danny Snell |
| We Live in a Bus | Dave Petzold |
| Eve Pownall Award | |
| Always Was, Always Will Be | Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson |
| Design and Building on Country | Alison Page and Paul Memmott, illustrated by Blak Douglas |
| Flora: Australia's Most Curious Plants | Tania McCartney |
| I am a Magpie, I am a Currawong | Bridget Farmer |
| Making the Shrine: Stories from Victoria's War Memorial | Laura J Carroll |
| South with the Seabirds | Jess McGeachin |
| CBCA Award for New Illustrator | |
| Digger Digs Down | Johanna Bell, illustrated by Huni Melissa Bollinger |
| Grow Big, Little Seed | Bec Nanayakkara, illustrated by Sarah Capon |
| The Land Recalls You | David Cragg and Noni Cragg |
| Peek-a-Boo Lottie | Laura Holloway |
| Raymangirrbuy dhawu, When was a Little Girl | Kylie Gatjawarrawuy Mununggurr |
| A Teaspoon of Light | Peter O'Connor, illustrated by Nisaluk Chantanakom |
