The Wilderness Society has announced the shortlist for its annual Environmental Award for Children’s Literature, now in its 30th year.
The award acknowledges books that inspire a love of and care for nature. The Karajia Award, meanwhile, a prize specifically for First Nations writers writing about Country, Culture and connection, is in its third year.
Matt Brennan, CEO of the Wilderness Society, says: ‘Storytelling is one of the ways that the Wilderness Society helps to protect nature. Using photographs, illustrations and stories is how we connect people to nature.
‘For the last 30 years, the Wilderness Society’s Environment Award for Children’s Literature has helped the next generation tackle big and often overwhelming ideas like the climate crisis or habitat destruction.’
2024 Enviromental Award for Children’s Literature Shortlist
Fiction:
- The Littlest Penguin: And the Phillip Island Penguin Parade (The Penguin Foundation, Jedda Robaard)
- Ruby and the Pen (David Lawrence, Cherie Dignam)
Non-Fiction
- The Trees (Victor Steffensen, Sandra Steffensen)
- Australian Animals From Beach to Bush (Brentos)
- The Frog Book: Nature’s Alarm (Sue Lawson, Guy Holt)
- Life in a Hollow (David Gullan, Suzanne Houghton)
- How we came to be creatures of camouflage and mimicry (Sami Bayly)
Picture Fiction
- Hope is the Thing (Johanna Bell, Erica Wagner)
- Wollemi (Samantha Tidy, Rachel Gyan)
- The Forgotten Song (Coral Vass, Jess Racklyeft)
- The Turtle and the Flood (Jackie French, Danny Snell)
- Desert Jungle (Jeannie Baker)
Past winners of the Environmental Award for Children’s Literature include acclaimed Australian authors Tim Winton, Paul Jennings, Jackie French, Aunty Joy Murphy, the late Narelle Oliver, Coral Tulloch, Graeme Base, Wendy Orr and last year’s winners Jaclyn Crupi and Cheryl Orsini.
As a previous winner, Winton says: ‘It was an honour to win this award, but to me the biggest thrill has always been the knowledge that a prize like this exists at all. Our physical and emotional lives are deeply entwined with the health and prospects of our organic estate. There is no artistic subject matter more fundamental, complex, or compelling than the natural environment, and the health of a culture depends on the degree to which it concerns itself, artistically and politically, with the fate of our planet. Thirty years of an award like this is a legacy to treasure and celebrate.’
Sally Rippin too, is a proud ambassador. The bestselling author and children’s laureate says: ‘I’m honoured to have been a past recipient of the Environment Award for Children’s Literature and to be a part of its 30-year history. I am passionate about the environment and anything that draws our attention to noticing it and taking care of it. Depicting the complexities of nature within children’s books is invaluable to raising future generations to respect our environment.’
2024 Karajia Award for Children’s Literature Shortlist
Non-fiction
- Ask Aunty: Seasons (Aunty Munya Andrews, Charmaine Ledden-Lewis)
- The Trees (Victor Steffensen, Sandra Steffensen)
- Tamarra (Violet Wadrill, Topsy Dodd, Leah Leaman, Felicity Meakins, Briony Barr,
- Gregory Crocetti, Cecelia Edwards and Cassandra Algy)
- Gurawul the Whale (Max Dulumunmun Harrison, Laura La Rosa)
- In My Blood it Runs (Dujuan Hoosan, Margaret Anderson, Carol Turner)
Picture Fiction
- Nedinga: Ancestors (Isobel Bevis, Leanne Zilm)
- Gurril Storm Bird (Trevor Fourmile, Jingalu)
Reponses from shortlisted authors
A number of the shortlisted candidates elaborated to ArtsHub about their books and the significance of these awards.
Aunty Munya Andrews says, ‘As an Elder, my life’s purpose is to share my culture and language with others and help keep it alive. Having my book, Ask Aunty: Seasons, shortlisted for this important award is such an honour and affirms my belief: Australians are eager to learn from the wisdom of my people.’
Sami Bayley, who penned How We Came to be Creatures of Camouflage and Mimicry, adds ‘Creating books that contribute to education in nature has been a goal of mine since I first started in the industry, so being recognised in this field is incredibly special.’
The illustrator of The Forgotten Song, Jess Racklyeft, is mindful of the educative value of the award, ‘It was challenging but very special to illustrate this story about the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater, and I hope readers love learning more about these animals and the hard work being done to save them.’
Guy Holt echoes the entertaining and edifying nature of nature writing: ‘Being shortlisted for the Environment Awards with our book on frogs is an honour that resounds loudly of our collective commitment to preserving biodiversity. Through this design, we leapfrog into awareness, championing these delicate amphibians and their ecosystems with every turn of the page. I wrote the book to educate children about frogs and their role in the environment, as I believe with knowledge comes better decision making.’
Jackie French says: ‘I can tell my grandkids, but being shortlisted for this award means The Turtle and the Flood will be read by more young people, who have never had a chance to learn from the animals and plants around them, nor even been shown how important it is to watch the land and its changes.’
About her book, Hope is the Thing, Joanna Bell explains that the 2019 bushfires and Emily Dickinson’s famous poem were the inspiration, ‘Like so many people, we were shocked by the immense loss of habitat and devastation to our biodiversity. We wanted to create a book that encouraged young people to pay attention to birds – to really look and listen – because we’d noticed that doing so gave us hope. We still have so much to learn from birds and the natural world.
‘Awards like these matter immensely because they elevate stories about wild places and remind us that we are living alongside an incredible diversity of plants and animals. You cannot protect what you cannot see and through books like ours, hidden worlds are brought into focus. The awards are also an important way to support Australian authors and illustrators and to ensure that the natural world is alive and well in our national narrative,’ Bells says.
The judging panel for the Environmental Awards this year include Australian conservation biologist Kylie Soanes, actress and Playschool presenter Zindzi Okenyo, and last year’s Environment Award for Children’s Literature winner Jess McGeachin.
Soane says, ‘The shortlisted books are full of beautiful stories and wondrous facts that inspire curiosity and care for our natural environment. I love how many of the books draw our attention to little-known species or ecosystems that many of us wouldn’t be familiar with – prehistoric pine trees, flood detecting turtles, critically endangered honeyeaters, and desert jungles. But my favourite thing across this shortlist is the strong themes of hope and optimism. Not only do these books showcase amazing plants, animals, and ecosystems, but they show us that we all have a role to play in protecting their future.’
Judges for this year’s Karajia Awards include previously shortlisted author Jasmine Seymour, educator Danae Coots, and academic and author Amy Thunig.
The winners of the Environment and Karajia Awards for Children’s Literature will be announced in September during Nature Book Week.