The winners of the CBCA Children's Book Awards were announced in Australia
The winners of the 2026 CBCA Awards, presented by the Children’s Book Council of Australia, have been announced in Australia. The award for Best Picture Book of the Year went to Zeno Sworder for *Once I Was a Giant*—a story about a tree that was cut down and turned into a pencil.
According to ABC News Australia, the book tells the story of a pencil that recalls its life as a tree in a large forest and its connection to a young traveler who passed through that forest every year. Sworder wrote and illustrated the book himself. He said he sought to explore themes of interconnectedness, transformation, and the differences between the urban and natural worlds.
The author was partly inspired by his childhood in Bendigo, where he spent a lot of time outdoors and climbed trees. While working on the book, protests against the logging of local forests were taking place in the state of Victoria. This prompted Sworder and his daughters to read about nature, particularly about the connections between trees through root systems and mycorrhizal networks. He called the win a great honor: this is the author’s second CBCA award in the picture book category, following *My Strange Shrinking Parents* in 2023.
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In the category for older readers, Barry Jonesberg’s novel *Darkest Night, Brightest Star* took first place. Its main character, 13-year-old Morgan Pickford, lives with his father and older brother in a family where, according to the author, toxic masculinity reigns. His father forces him to play sports, but thanks to friendships outside the family, Morgan realizes that being a man doesn’t mean following his father’s toxic example.
The jury named *Inked*, written by Karen Vosson and illustrated by Jake A. Minton, as the best book for younger readers. The award in the early childhood category went to *The Emperor’s Egg* by Re Tan. This year’s award marked the 80th in the history of the CBCA Awards, which were established in 1946. Previous winners include Markus Zusak, Melina Marchetta, and Shaun Tan.
