CBCA Book of the Year Awards

The CBCA Book of the Year Awards are Australia's longest-running honors for children's and young adult literature. The Children's Book Council of Australia, a not-for-profit organization active since 1945, presented the first award in 1946, and only one award was given each year until 1952. The awards celebrate Australian writers and illustrators who create books for readers from birth to age 18.

There are six categories today: Older Readers, Younger Readers, Early Childhood, Picture Book of the Year, the Eve Pownall Award for information books, and the CBCA Award for New Illustrator. A national judging panel, with members put forward by the council's state and territory branches, releases a Notables list in February and a shortlist in March, then names winners and Honour Books in August. Prize money is paid from the earnings of the CBCA Awards Foundation, an endowment set up in the mid-1990s.

Books by Australian writers and illustrators, published during the eligibility year and intended for readers from birth to 18, entered by publishers under the council's award policy.