Derby Children’s Picture Book Award 2026 winner announced

The winner of Derby Book Festival’s eighth Derby Children’s Picture Book Award is announced today (26 March). 

The winning book, from a shortlist of three, is ‘That’s Not Stella’ by Donna Fredin.

The children, in Years 2 & 3 at 74 Derby schools, voted for their favourite book on Voting Day, 24 March, having read the three shortlisted books in their classes. The book is the hilarious tale of a secret holiday agency for pets!

Over 7000 children in 235 classes in 73 schools took part in this year’s Award. Every school received sets of the three shortlisted books for each Year 2 and Year 3 class in February at an event for teachers at Derby College. This year’s shortlisted books were:

● ‘The Great Green Island’ by Becky Colvin (Macmillan Children’s Books)

● ‘That’s Not Stella’ by Donna Fredin (Flying Eye Books)

● ‘My Rice is Best’ by Selina Brown and Maxwell A. Oginni (Puffin Books)

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 Lanisha Butterfield, last year’s winning author of Flower Block, who revealed the winner at a special Zoom event for schools with classes invited to log in.

The winning author, Donna Fredin, said on hearing of her win: “It is such an amazing feeling to know that children have chosen 'That's Not Stella' as the winner of the Derby Children’s Picture Book Award. This is such a special award and I'm so happy that so many children enjoyed the story. It's an honour to know that 'That's Not Stella' is helping to encourage reading and enjoyment of books in young people. Thank you to everyone involved and to all the children that voted.”

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 83 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, Donna Fredin, to the participating schools before the end of the summer term.”

Liz Fothergill CBE, Patron of Derby Book Festival said: “‘That’s not Stella’ becomes our eighth 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 around 95% 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 wonderful to see the continued growth of the Derby Children’s Picture Book Award, which is an important part of the Derby Book Festival programme of events. 

“It is important, not only because it nurtures shared ideas, knowledge and creativity, but because it is voted for by local schoolchildren who have engaged with the books. 

“Once again, the University of Derby is proud to be involved with Derby Book Festival, and we look forward to another successful 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 plus primary schools. In 2025 the events were live streamed to schools across Derby and Derbyshire, enabling around 9,000 children and teachers to watch them.

This year’s events will include the author-illustrator Joe Todd-Stanton and the Waterstone’s Children's Laureate, Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

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