The School Library Association has celebrated the winners of the 2022 Information Book Awards in National Nonfiction November. They are:
The 2022 Overall Winner and 13-16 category and Children’s Choice Winner
Black Artists Shaping the World by Sharna Jackson & Dr Zoé Whitley (Thames and Hudson ISBN: 978-0500652596 )
The judges hailed this title as ‘a stunning beginners’ guide to the best of contemporary Black art’. Populated with ‘dynamic black and white portraits’, the ‘thoughtfully presented examples of a wide range of types of art [with] clear, concise text and exceptional design’ creates a ‘classic’ for any school library.
The 2022 category winners
Age 8-12 Winner
Making a Baby: An Inclusive Guide to How Every Family Begins by Rachel Greener, illustrated by Clare Owen (Nosy Crow. ISBN: 978-1788008013 ). Praised by judges as being ‘interesting, factually correct, and insightful’, this book crucially celebrates the diversity of many different types of family
8-12 Children’s Choice and Children’s Choice Overall Winner
Black and British: An Illustrated History by David Olusoga, illustrated by Jake Alexander and Melleny Taylor (Macmillan Children’s Books ISBN: 978-1529052954 ) Adapted from the author’s celebrated adult title in a beautiful and absorbing illustrated format that effortlessly conveys how Black and British history has been woven together since the Roman invasion. An eye-popping celebration of Black history
Age 0-7 Winner
Meet the Microbes, written by Dr Emily Grossman and illustrated by Maggie Li (Wren & Rook ISBN: 978-1526363572). With illustrations that help readers to visualise concepts that can be hard to understand, this title is a colourful exploration of how these tiny living things play a crucial role in our existence.
0 -7 Children’s Choice Winner
Written by Katie Daynes and Jordan Akpojaro and illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat (Usborne ISBN: 978-1474995795 )
A gentle and sensitive lift-the-flap book that explains what racism is, how it happens, why it is never acceptable and what every one of us can do to eradicate it.
It was also announced that the recipient of the Hachette Children’s Group Award for Outstanding Contribution to Information Books, marking an exceptional contribution to excellence in their field, is Owen Davey a non-fiction illustrator who has worked with a wide range of clients, including WWF, National Geographic, Disney, The Guardian, BBC, Google and ZSL London Zoo. He has been the author and illustrator of numerous non-fiction children’s books on animals, which have been published in over 25 languages around the world.
The Information Book Award is an annual event, in its twelfth year, and is a major development for information books, being designed to support school libraries and to reinforce the importance of non-fiction whilst highlighting the high standard of resources available. For more information, on SLA Book Awards, click here.
