Thank you to everyone that entered! We had amazing titles to choose from. Thank you to our longlist judges for helping us to create the longlist. These are the top 14 diverse UK and Ireland books in Picture Books, Children's, YA and Adult fiction. The shortlist will be announced in September 12th 2024.
Don't forget to vote for your favourite book via the Readers' Choice! You can vote for one book per category and the books with the most votes will be announced at our awards ceremony in October. Please do support all of these amazing books. Don't forget to use the hashtag #TheDBAwards
Picture Book
A Hero Like Me by Angela Joy & Jen Reid, illustrated by Leire Salaberria (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)
Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf by Craig Barr-Green, illustrated by Francis Martin (Little Tiger)
Grandad's Pride by Harry Woodgate (Andersen Press)
I'm Going to Be a Princess by Stephanie Taylor, illustrated by Jade Orlando (Nosy Crow)
Nabil Steals a Penguin by Nishani Reed, illustrated by Junissa Bianda (Nosy Crow)
Not Now, Noor! by Farhana Islam, illustrated by Nabila Adani (PRH Children's)
One Little Word by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Allison Colpoys (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)
Shine by Sarah Asuquo, illustrated by Nadia Fisher (Scholastic)
Stop! That's Not My Story by Smriti Halls, illustrated by Erika Meza (Simon & Schuster Children's)
Sunny and the Birds by Wendy Medour, illustrated by Nabila Adani (Oxford University Press)
The Dress In The Window by Robert Tregoning, illustrated by Pippa Curnick (Oxford University Press)
To The Other Side by Erika Meza (Hodder Children's Books)
Thunderboots by Naomi Jones, illustrated by Rebecca Ashdown (Oxford University Press)
Whirly Twirly Me by Manjeet Mann, illustrated by Amanda Quartey (HarperCollins Children's Books)
Children's
A Different Kind of Freedom: A Romani Story by Richard O' Neill (Scholastic)
Dreamweavers: Night of the Scary Fairies by Annabelle Sami, illustrated by Forrest Burdett (Little Tiger)
Glitter Boy by Ian Eagleton (Scholastic)
Glow Up Lara Bloom by Dee Benson (Hot Key Books)
Jamie by L. D. Lapinkski (Orion Children's Books)
Kicked Out by A.M. Dassu (Old Barn Books)
Nikhil and Jay: Off to India by Chitra Soundar, illustrator Soofiya (Otter-Barry Books)
Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan (Andersen Press)
Steady For This by Nathanael Lessore (Hot Key Books)
The Boy in the Smoke by Rachel Faturoti (Hodder Children's Books)
The Destiny of Minou Moonshine by Gita Ralleigh (Zephyr Books)
The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Otter-Barry Books)
The Storm Swimmer by Clare Weze (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
The Thief of Farrowfell by Ravena Guron, illustrated by Aleesia Trunfio (Faber)
YA
All The Things They Said We Couldn’t Have: Stories of Trans Joy by T.C. Oakes-Monger (Jessica Kingsley Publishers)
A Million To One by Adiba Jaigirdar (Hodder Children's Books)
An Emerald Sky by Aneesa Marufu (Chicken House)
Away With Words by Sophie Cameron (Little Tiger)
Boy Like Me by Simon James Green (Scholastic)
Gwen and Art are NOT in Love by Lex Croucher (Bloomsbury YA)
How Far We've Come by Joyce Efia Harmer (Simon & Schuster YA)
My Life As A Chameleon by Diana Anyakwo (Atom)
This Book Kills by Ravena Guron (Usborne)
The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta by Victoria Princewell (Scholastic)
The First Move by Jenny Ireland (Penguin Random House Children's)
Wild Song by Candy Gourlay (David Fickling Books)
What The World Doesn't See by Mel Darbon (Usborne)
You Think You Know Me by Ayaan Mohamud (Usborne)
Adult
Bellies by Nicola Dinan (Doubleday)
Close to Home by Michael Magee (Hamish Hamilton)
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (Jonathan Cape)
Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks (Jonathan Cape)
Ghost Girl, Banana by Wiz Wharton (Hodder and Stoughton)
How (Not) to Have an Arranged Marriage by Dr Amir Khan (Macmillan)
Maame by Jessica George (Hodder and Stoughton)
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie (Oneworld)
Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Viking)
Spirts Abroad by Zen Cho (Tor, Pan Macmillan)
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth (Verve Books)
The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams (Jonathan Cape)
Those People Next Door by Kia Abdullah (HarperCollins)
Until Proven Innocent by Nicola Williams (Hamish Hamilton)