Guardian Children's Fiction Prize

The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award is a literary award that annually recognises one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It is conferred upon the author of the book by The Guardian newspaper, which established it in 1965 and inaugurated it in 1967. It is a lifetime award in that previous winners are not eligible. At least since 2000 the prize is £1,500.

The shortlist of no more than four books and the winner are selected by three children's fiction writers, almost always including the latest winner. The Guardian calls it the only children's book award winner selected by peers. The newspaper's children's book editor Julia Eccleshare (at least since 2000) participates in selection of the longlist and thereafter chairs the panel of final judges.

In recent years there is a longlist of eight books announced May or June, a shortlist of no more than four announced in September, and a single winner. The longlist is the foundation for a summer program of reading, reviewing, and discussion.

The U.K. publishers of eligible books must enter them for the prize with a fee, although the chair may call for submission. The publication year is August to July of the current year, but May, June, and July books must be submitted in advance. Books originally published in another language are eligible in English translation for five years.

Piers Torday won the 2014 Guardian Prize, announced 13 November, for The Dark Wild from Quercus Publishing. It is the second book of a trilogy inaugurated by The Last Wild, whose conclusion The Wild Beyond is forthcoming April 2015.

The judges were Guardian children's book editor Julia Eccleshare and three British children's writers (as always): 2012 prize winner Frank Cottrell Boyce, Gillian Cross, and Katherine Rundell.

The longlist of eight was announced late in June, the shortlist of four early in October.

DiCamillo and Flora & Ulysses won the annual Newbery Medal from the American Library Association as the most distinguished US children's book published during 2013.

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