Nature Book Week is coming!
This September, readers of all ages will be celebrating nature and storytelling, with a full line-up of events soon to be announced!
Karajia and Environment Awards for Children's Literature
The Wilderness Society's annual celebration of the best new nature-themed children's books
Since 1994, we've been celebrating the best new fiction, non-fiction and picture books written for children that promote a love of nature.
2023 shortlists revealed!
A former Olympian, an Indigenous pop star and a 14-year-old entrepreneur passionate about the eradication of ocean plastic feature among the diverse authors and illustrators shortlisted for our 2023 Karajia and Environment Awards for Children’s Literature.
Read on to see which books were selected… And if you’d like to own your own copies, Gleebooks is partnering with the Wilderness Society to donate 10% of sales of the shortlisted books back to us to protect nature!
Who picks the shortlist?
The Environment Award for Children’s Literature has been recognising the talents of authors and illustrators and promoting a love of nature in young people since it was established in 1994. The group of Environmental Educators who helped start the Award back in 1994 shortlists the books, with the help of two junior judges.
Launched in 2022, the Karajia Award for Children’s Literature celebrates excellence in children's literature by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island authors and/or illustrators, who honour Connection to Country and tell stories exploring land, community, culture and language. This year, Danae Coots and Melissa Gee shortlisted the books for the Karajia Award.
We received more than 120 books for consideration in the 2023 Karajia and Environment Awards For Children's Literature. Thank you to all of the authors and publishers who submitted entries. Scroll down to see who made this year’s shortlist!
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Meet the judges
Adam Goodes is an Adnyamathanha and Narungga man and community leader. He is a former Australian Rules Footballer, having achieved the greatest heights in the game, and was named Australian of the Year in 2014 for his public work in the fight against racism and his advocacy in First Nations affairs. Together with his cousin Michael O'Loughlin, Adam founded the GO Foundation, which supports and inspires the next generation of First Nations leaders. With a diploma in Aboriginal Studies and his own daughter approaching preschool age, Adam was motivated to publish a series of books for young children and families about Australia's First Nations history.
Meet the judges
Hunter Page-Lochard has many film, television and theatre acting credits, and has written and directed children's shows Thalu, Playschool, Beep & Mort and The Wonder Gang. He will next be seen in the feature film Kid Snow and in the second season of the award winning series The Newsreader for the ABC. His other recent credits include the ABC drama series Barons and the ABC/NBCUniversal critically acclaimed series Fires. He is also one of the regular hosts of Playschool.
Meet the judges
Leanne Mulgo Watson is a Darug woman and is the daughter of Aunty Edna Watson and Uncle Allan Watson. She started painting at a young age, and is now an accomplished artist, illustrator, and writer. Her book Cooee Mittigar won the 2020 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Children's Literature.
Meet the judges
Alex Papps has a lengthy list of television, film and theatre credits, and has written for Home and Away and Play School. In 2014, he released and album of children’s music called, “Let’s Put The Beat In Our Feet.” Alex has been a regular presenter on ABC TV’s Play School since 2005.
Meet the judges
Sami Bayly is an award winning children’s book author and illustrator. She has released three books in the Illustrated Encyclopaedia series and has just released her fourth book, How We Came To Be - Surprising Sea Creatures. With a Bachelor of Natural History Illustration (Honours) at UoN, she appreciates all animals, especially the weird ones!
Meet the judges
Adam Duncan is a Biripi man whose family and ancestors were traditional custodians of lands in the Manning River region of New South Wales. Adam lives and works on Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country as a visual artist, cultural education consultant and preschool teacher at Wiradjuri Preschool at the University of Canberra.
2023 Karajia Award for Children's Literature shortlist
| The Heartbeat of the Land by Cathy Freeman and Coral Vass, illustrated by Tannya Harricks, published by Larrikin House |
| Ninni Yabini by Cheryl Kickett-Tucker, illustrated by Tyrown Waigana, published by Fremantle Press |
| The Dunggiirr Brothers and the Caring Song of the Whale by Aunty Shaa Smith and Yandaarra, published by Allen & Unwin |
| Our Dreaming by Kirli Saunders, illustrated by Dub Leffler, published by Scholastic Australia |
| Come Together by Isaiah Firebrace, illustrated by Jaelyn Biumaiwai, published by Hardie Grant Explore |
| Looking After Country with Fire by Victor Steffensen, illustrated by Sandra Steffensen, published by Hardie Grant Explore |
| Miimi Marraal, Mother Earth by Melissa Greenwood, published by ABC Books: An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| We Are Australians by Duncan Smith, Nicole Godwin, illustrated by Jandamarra Cadd, published by Wild Dog Books |
| Open Your Heart to Country by Jasmine Seymour, published by Magabala Books |
You can buy one—or all!—of these wonderful titles through our partner Gleebooks, who will donate 10% of sales back to the Wilderness Society so we can continue to protect the nature we love and depend on.
What is the Karajia award?
Over the last several years, we noticed that more and more First Nations authored and/or illustrated books being submitted to the Environment Award for Children’s Literature, many of these stories honouring a connection to Country and exploring land, community, culture and language. That’s why we launched the Karajia Award for Children’s Literature in 2022—an award that celebrates this continent's First Nations authors and/or illustrated children’s books.
In Mirning culture, ‘Karajia’ is a holder and teller of the ancient stories, carried from when the world was young. Bunna Lawrie, Senior Elder of the Mirning people, is a Karajia. He was one of the three inaugural judges of the award and has shared this incredibly special name with us.
2023 Environment Award For Children's Literature shortlist
Fiction
 | Sunny the Shark by Remy Lai, published by Allen & Unwin |
| Tyenna: Through My Eyes - Australian Disaster Zones by Julie Hunt and Terry Whitebeach, published by Allen & Unwin |
| Berani by Michelle Kadarusman, published by Allen & Unwin |
 | Dear Greta by Yvette Poshoglian, published by Penguin Random House Australia |
Non-fiction
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| We Are Australians by Duncan Smith and Nicole Godwin, illustrated by Jandamarra Cadd, published by Wild Dog Books |
| The ABC Kids Guide to Loving the Planet by Jaclyn Crupi, illustrated by Cheryl Orsini, published by ABC Books: An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| On the Trail of the Plains-Wanderer: A Precious Australian Bird by Rohan Cleave, illustrated by Julian Teh, published by CSIRO Publishing |
| Australia's Endangered Bush Creatures by Myke Mollard, published by Woodslane Press Pty Ltd |
Picture fiction
| Say NO to Plastic! by Ned & Shane Heaton, illustrated by Tamzin Barber, published by Little Steps |
| The Tree at Number 43 by Jess McGeachin, published by Penguin Random House Australia |
| A Shorebird Flying Adventure by Jackie Kerin and Milly Formby, published by CSIRO Publishing |
| Looking After Country with Fire by Victor Steffensen, illustrated by Sandra Steffensen, published by Hardie Grant Explore |
| Kind by Jess McGeachin, published by Allen & Unwin |
You can buy one—or all!—of these wonderful titles through our partner Gleebooks, who will donate 10% of sales back to the Wilderness Society so we can continue to protect the nature we love and depend on.
3 decades of nature stories
Explore nearly 30 year’s worth of the very best winning and shortlisted kids' nature books.
Books to good places
As part of Nature Book Week the Wilderness Society is working with First Nations communities and schools, like the Nawarddeken Academy in Arnhem Land and Deadly Science, to give the fantastic nature books we received for consideration a good home.
“The Nawarddeken Academy is thrilled to be receiving a donation of books from The Wilderness Society. Being located on an Indigenous ranger base in west Arnhem Land, we have limited access to quality printed texts that embrace the natural environment,” says Olga Scholes, Nawarddeken Academy Executive Officer.
“Our country is our classroom and local ecological knowledge is critical to Indigenous Language and Culture. In a remote bicultural school like ours, reading environmental stories from other parts of the world highlights the importance of caring for our local environment.”
Corey Tutt CEO and Founder of Deadly Science says the donation of books is “Incredible! Books are freedom. To provide these Deadly books to our students is just amazing. Who knows, maybe this might be the thing that helps our students find their deadly passion.”
