2025 Derby Children's Picture Book Award - The Winner is announced!

Over 6500 children have voted on their winning book and from a shortlist of three, the winner is Flower Block by Lanisha Butterfield and Yoang Giang (Puffin Books)!

The children, in Years 2 & 3 at 63 Derby schools, voted for their favourite book on Voting Day, 1 April, having read the three shortlisted books in their classes. The book has a strong message about friendship and community. Over 6500 children in 217 classes in the 63 schools took part in this year’s Award. Every school received sets of the three shortlisted books for each class in February at an event for teacher’s at Derby College. This year’s shortlisted books were:

• Flower Block by Lanisha Butterfield and Hoang Giang (Puffin Books).
•  If I Were Prime Minister by Trygve Skaug and Ella Okstad. Translated by Rosie Hedger (Lantana Publishing).
• The Girl at the Front of the Class by Onjali Q. Rauf and Pippa Curnick (Hachette Children’s)

The Award aims to celebrate picture books that children can relate to and in which the diversity and challenges of modern life are represented, enabling children to better understand the world they live in. The winning book was announced by Naomi Jones and Rebecca Ashdown, last year’s winning author and illustrator of Thunder Boots, who revealed the winner at a special Zoom event for schools with classes invited to log in.

The winning author, Lanisha Butterfield, said on hearing of her win: “Hoang and I wanted to uplift and celebrate normal children, families and communities who so rarely see themselves in technicolour story. 

“I wanted little readers everywhere to know that if a magic beanstalk can grow in a rural field, it can and should grow in a tower block. In choosing Flower Block as your winner, you have shown us that we have achieved our goal, and that makes my heart soar!”

Di Smith, organiser of the Award and a Festival Trustee said: “The Award continues to grow both in terms of the numbers of schools who are involved and the number of children’s publishers, with a record number of 75 books submitted this year. It has really excited teachers in the city and it was wonderful to visit the schools to see them working with the books.

“We plan to organise a virtual visit by the winning author and illustrator, Lanisha Butterfield and Hoang Giang, to the participating schools before the end of the summer term. We know how important it is for children to meet the authors of books they read - a report published last year by 'The National Literacy Trust' showed that reading enjoyment levels are markedly higher among those who said that they had a writer visit.”

Liz Fothergill CBE, Patron of Derby Book Festival said: “Flower Block becomes our seventh very worthy winner. We are delighted with the enthusiastic response we get from schools for the Award and it is clearly something they value as part of their teaching. We have been able to involve so many more schools this year – reaching just under 90% of the primary schools in Derby, thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Award by an anonymous donor. The Award introduces children to beautifully illustrated picture books which have a profound story to tell, enabling them to develop empathy towards others and better understand the important issues of today’s world.”

“The Award continues to be instrumental in delivering our aim to bring all Derby’s residents together in a love of books and to inspire a new generation of readers to appreciate the joy that books and reading bring to our lives.”

Professor Keith McLay, Chair of Derby Book Festival and Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Derby, said: “It is fantastic to see the continued growth of the Children’s Picture Book Award as part of Derby Book Festival, and it is pleasing to see how engaged local children have been with the competition.

“Sharing ideas, knowledge and creativity are crucial to learning, so it is particularly pleasing to see the Festival focus on encouraging children to get involved and engage with reading. 

“Derby Book Festival expands and develops each year, offering an exciting programme of events for all to get involved in, and the University of Derby is delighted to continue to support the charity as it marks its tenth year.”

Derby Book Festival has always included a strong programme of events for children, families and schools. Each year the Festival organises Meet the Author events, sponsored by local firm Cosy, in Derby Theatre for the city’s 70 primary schools. In 2024 the events were live streamed to schools across Derby and Derbyshire, enabling around 10,000 children and teachers to watch them. This year’s events will include the author Nadia Shireen and award-winning writer MG Leonard.

Derby Book Festival is funded by Arts Council England and the University of Derby with additional sponsorship from local businesses.

To find out more, visit the Festival website and sign up for more information. You can also follow the Festival on Twitter at: @DerbyBookFest and ‘like’ the Festival on Facebook and on Instagram.

Learn more about the Derby Children's Picture Book Award.