The 2027 Amazing Book Awards
Dates for your Diary
We're back!! And ready to celebrate our 16th Birthday. 2027 looks set to be another GREAT year!
September to October
Registration for the 2027 awards open.
September to December
Submissions for long long list to be sent to Viv.
Friday 29th January 2027
Meeting at 3.30pm on Teams.
Friday 5th February
The Long List is announced
Monday 1st March
Long List to Shortlist voting deadline.
Thursday 4th March
The Shortlist is announced!
Friday 4th June
The Shortlist voting deadline.
Friday 18th June
The ABA Awards Night @ Shoreham Academy from 5.30pm and live on Teams from 6.30pm.
Ravena wins Gold!
Mondays are Murder wins GOLD!!
We are so excited to announce that the brilliant Mondays are Murder is our 2026 Gold Award Winner. The students and staff loved it! Well done to Ravena Guron for such a fantastic book. Massive thanks to everyone who voted! And an even bigger thanks to all those who came to the 2026 Awards Night. Here’s to next year! More information coming soon!
I absolutely loved it! I have been coming to the ABAs for years and I think this was the best one yet! Well done everyone! My students had a fantastic time! Thank you so much for all that you do! We love it!
The Amazing Book Awards 2026
The 2026 Shortlist is Here!!
As we celebrate our 15th Birthday this year, we are delighted to announce yet another AMAZING Shortlist. It was a super close call between the 20 books on our Longlist, and the five books that eventually became our 2026 Shortlist.
The 2026 Shortlist is:
- The Wycherleys by Annaliese Avery
- Cloud Nine by Sue H. Cunningham
- Mondays are Murder by Ravena Guron
- Aphrodite by Bryony Pearce
- We Three Witches by Rosie Talbot
You and your students now have until the 5th of June to read all five titles and then vote for your favourite! See our FAQ for information on how to vote.
Hope to see you at Durrington High School on the 19th June for the big awards night with our host and previous Silver Winner Benjamin Dean
Dates for Your Diaries 2026
The 2027 Amazing Book Awards
Dates for your Diary
We're back!! And ready to celebrate our 16th Birthday. 2027 looks set to be another GREAT year!
September to October
Registration for the 2027 awards open.
September to December
Submissions for long long list to be sent to Viv.
Friday 29th January 2027
Meeting at 3.30pm on Teams.
Friday 5th February
The Long List is announced
Monday 1st March
Long List to Shortlist voting deadline.
Thursday 4th March
The Shortlist is announced!
Friday 4th June
The Shortlist voting deadline.
Friday 18th June
The ABA Awards Night @ Shoreham Academy from 5.30pm and live on Teams from 6.30pm.
Do you want to join us this year? Follow the QR code to our 2026 sign-up form.
The ABA Team
The 2024 ABA Awards Night
Oh what a night!
Wow! What a night!!!
Huge thanks to all of our participating schools for running your book clubs, getting all the entries in for us and organising trips out to bring students to the award night! We had nearly 300 people join us at Shoreham Academy, 4 FANTASTIC authors and a whole SHED load of excited teenage readers!
In case you were not able to make it, we have uploaded a Winners folder to the ABA Schools Drive which currently has some snazzy posters!
Social media has been very busy this weekend with the Authors celebrating their wins and lots of lovely feedback from parents, librarians and students alike. #ABA2024
Thank you one and all! Here’s to 2025! If you have any suggestions for the VERY long list please get in touch.
EMAIL: vdacosta@durring.com
And the winner was …
JOSH SILVER for HAPPYHEAD
HappyHead was by far the out and out winner this year with over 500 votes! We were really sad that Josh couldn’t join us on the night but he has sent us a brilliant video – it’s up on our Youtube channel now.
I just want to say thank you. These things mean so much to me. Being given the opprotunity to have your book read by people and have people champion it. It’s amazing, and something I never really expected.
Jane Earley, Cavendish
Thanks A MILLION – as we say in Ireland – for another wonderful night on Friday.
Our pupils were ‘buzzing’ as one mother put it. They loved every minute!
Juliette Webb, Davison
Congratulations for organising an amazing evening!
We all enjoyed it. The authors were so engaging.
John Clayton, Burgess Hill Academy
Thank you so much for a lovely time on Friday evening – our students had a terrific time.
It was a terrific event and we are felt so privileged to be there!
The ABAs 2025
Save the Date
The ABA Team
The ABAs 2025 will be held in the brand new theatre space at Durrington High School on Friday 20th June 2025, and we can’t wait! We’re already planning some awesome things for you and your students and we are looking forward to seeing you there! You can sing-up to the ABAs 2025 using the link below.
ABA 2024
The 2024 Shortlist
We are absolutely delighted to announce the 2024 Amazing Book Awards Shortlist, and what a list it is! Wow!! What do you think? Did your favourite make the shortlist? Have you started reading them yet?
And will you be joining us for the awards night on FRIDAY 21st JUNE?
The Immortal Games
By Annalise Avery
How to Die Famous
By Benjamin Dean
Catch Your Death
By Ravena Guron
Someone is Watching You
By Tess James-Mackey
HappyHead
By Josh Silver
THE SHORTLIST
THE SHORTLIST
THE SHORTLIST
THE SHORTLIST
THE SHORTLIST
THE SHORTLIST
THE SHORTLIST
THE SHORTLIST
THE SHORTLIST
THE SHORTLIST
Join us on Friday 21st June for the BEST awards night yet!
link coming soon ….
Rosie Wins Gold!
About
Rosie Talbot wins GOLD!
We are delighted to announce that the wonderful Rosie Talbot is your Gold Award Winner.
Sixteen souls was a clear winner but Finn Longman’s The Butterfly Assassin and Alex Bell’s The Lighthouse were a super close Silver and Bronze.
Huge thanks to all our finalist authors for joining us at the award night, we hope you enjoyed the evening.
A BIG thank you to all of the staff and students who came along too. It was so FANTASTIC to see you face-to-face again after so long.
A final thanks to the Book Nook, Hove for your on-going support over the past 12 years. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Sign-up for 2024 is already open! Click the link above and get ready for 2024 and out 13th Birthday!
I just wanted to say how fantastic the ABA was this year. Our pupils had such a good time! It was so well organised, and the authors gave such good talks (hearing their origin stories was so much better than when they just read from their books!)- they were all articulate, funny and inspirational speakers.
We are looking forward to next year already!
The Shortlist is Announced
It’s here!! The 2023 Shortlist
This year the votes were SO close we had to choose six books instead of our normal five! It’s going to be a bumper year!
Save the date - Friday 16th June
Save the Date
Get your glad rags ready!
We are so excited about the awards night this year and should have BIG announcement for you soon. In the meantime we are absolutely delighted that Liz Kessler, 2022 Gold Award Winner, will be returning to be our wonderful host.
A reminder about us
The ABAs
Student Voice is KEY
Voted for by the readers
Established in 2011 by four West Sussex School Librarians the Amazing Book Awards, aka The ABAs, were created to give local students a strong personal voice. The first essential rule of the awards was, only the students’ votes count. No panel could override or veto their decisions. Student voice is key. The cornerstone of the awards.
It’s personal!
Established in 2011 by four West Sussex School Librarians the Amazing Book Awards, aka The ABAs, were created to give local students a strong personal voice. The first essential rule of the awards was, only the students’ votes count. No panel could override or veto their decisions. Student voice is key. The cornerstone of the awards.
The fastest growing book awards in the South East
Join an Online Community of over 3000 Readers
Follow us on our Socials and tell us what you think about finalists this year. @SussexABA
ABAs
The Home of the ABAs
Established in 2011 by four West Sussex School Librarians the Amazing Book Awards, aka The ABAs, were created to give local students a strong personal voice. The first essential rule of the awards was, only the students’ votes count. No panel could override or veto their decisions. Student voice is key, it’s the cornerstone of our awards.
Join the Club!
Subscriptions for the 2023 awards are still open, and even though we have announced the Long List there is still plenty of time to vote for the 2023 Shortlist! Who will win? Only our students can decide.
Join
Be part of the fastest growing book awards on the South Coast.
Read
Read some of the very best YA fiction out in the UK right now.
Meet
Join us for the awards night 2023 and meet the finalists.
Club Blog
The 2027 Amazing Book Awards Dates for your Diary We're back!! And ready to celebrate our 16th Birthday. 2027 looks set to be another GREAT year! September to October Registration for the 2027 awards open. September to December Submissions for long long list to be...
Ravena wins Gold!
Mondays are Murder wins GOLD!! We are so excited to announce that the brilliant Mondays are Murder is our 2026 Gold Award Winner. The students and staff loved it! Well done to Ravena Guron for such a fantastic book. Massive thanks to everyone who voted! And an even...
The Amazing Book Awards 2026 The 2026 Shortlist is Here!! As we celebrate our 15th Birthday this year, we are delighted to announce yet another AMAZING Shortlist. It was a super close call between the 20 books on our Longlist, and the five books that eventually...