2026 shortlist
- Young Adult
Winner You’re Never Too Much
By Charlie Castelletti
- Designer: Arabella Jones
- Illustrator: Muokkaa Studio
- Art Director: Rachel Vale
- Imprint: First Ink
Poems for Tortured Souls
By Liz Ison
- Designer: Shelley Nicoli
- Illustrator: Thy Bui
- Imprint: Hodder Children’s Books
iNSiDE
By S. A. Gales
- Designer: Micaela Alcaino
- Imprint: Faber
His Face is The Sun
By Michelle Jabès Corpora
- Designer: Micaela Alcaino
- Imprint: Hachette Childrens
Feminist History for Every Day of The Year
By Kate Mosse
- Designer: Rachel Vale
- Imprint: Macmillan Children’s Books
Birdy Arbuthnot’s Year of Yes
By Joanna Nadin
- Designer: Anna Morrison
- Art Director: Becky Chilcott
- Imprint: Fox and Ink
- Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Winner Sunbirth
By Anyu
- Designer: Suzanne Dean
- Art Director: Suzanne Dean
- Imprint: Harvill
Luminous
By Silvia Park
- Designer: Jack Smyth
- Art Director: Ben Summers
- Imprint: One World
Ice
By Jacek Dukaj
- Designers: Jessie Price & Yehrin Tong
- Illustrator: Yehrin Tong
- Art Director: Jessie Price
- Imprint: Ad Astra
Dengue Boy
By Michel Nieva
- Designer: Steve Panton
- Illustrator: Iain Macarthur
- Imprint: Serpents Tail
Bog People
By Hollie Starling
- Illustrator: Nate Hebert
- Art Director: Julia Connolly
- Imprint: Chatto & Windus
2001: A Space Odyssey
By Arthur C. Clarke
- Designer: Ben Prior
- Illustrator: George James
- Imprint: Orbit
- Non-Fiction
The Unthinkable
By David Challen
- Designer: Melissa Four
- Illustrator: Mellissa Four
- Imprint: Brazen Books
The Lost Girls of Autism
By Gina Rippon
- Designer: Lucy Scholes
- Illustrator: Sergi Delgado
- Art Director: Rachel Vale
- Imprint: Pan Macmillan
The Lonely Voice
By Frank O'Connor
- Designer: Jack Smyth
- Imprint: Lilliput Press
Sound System
By Dave Randall
- Designer: Jack Smyth
- Art Director: Melanie Patrick
- Imprint: Pluto Press
Peak Human
By Johan Norberg
- Designer: Steve Leard
- Art Director: Richard Evans
- Imprint: Atlantic Books
Opus
By Gareth Gore
- Designer: Jack Smyth
- Art Director: Mick Pilkington
- Imprint: Scribe
Love In Exile
By Shon Faye
- Designer: Olga Kominek
- Art Director: Jim Stoddart
- Imprint: Allen Lane
Kubrick
By Robert P. Kolker and Nathan Abrams
- Designer: Robbie Porter
- Art Director: Pete Adlington
- Imprint: Faber
Ending Isolation
By Christopher Blackwell and Deborah Zalesne
- Designer: David Pearson
- Art Director: Melanie Patrick
- Imprint: Pluto Press
Eat Poop Die
By Joe Roman
- Designer: Louis Gabaldoni
- Imprint: Profile Books
Dianaworld
By Edmund White
- Designer: Jamie Keenan
- Art Director: Jim Stoddart
- Imprint: Allen Lane
Winner Chasing the Dark
By Ben Machell
- Designer: Ben Prior
- Imprint: Abacus
- Series Design
Weird Girls Series
By various
- Designer: The Vintage Design Team
- Art Director: Suzanne Dean
- Imprint: Vintage Classics
Theseus series
By Theseus
- Designer: Sophie Ellis
- Illustrator: Sophie Ellis
- Imprint: Virago
Murakami Classics Series
By Haruki Murakami
- Designer: Suzanne Dean
- Illustrator: Seb Agresti
- Art Director: Suzanne Dean
- Imprint: Vintage Classics
Megan Giddings series
By Megan Giddings
- Designer: Owen Gent
- Illustrator: Owen Gent
- Art Director: Stephen Brayda
- Imprint: Harper Collins US
Elif Shafak series
By Elif Shafak
- Designer: Josie Staveley-Taylor
- Illustrator: Josie Staveley-Taylor
- Art Director: Richard Bravery
- Imprint: Penguin Viking
Winner Bolaño series
By Roberto Bolaño
- Designer: Suzanne Dean
- Illustrator: Diego Becas
- Art Director: Suzanne Dean
- Imprint: Vintage Classics
- Classics/Reissue
The Samurai Detectives
By Shotaro Ikenami
- Designer: Dan Jackson
- Imprint: Penguin Viking
The Country Girls
By Edna O'Brien
- Designer: Sophie Harris
- Art Director: Pete Adlington
- Imprint: Faber
Winner Like Water for Chocolate
By Laura Esquivel
- Illustrator: Nick Misani
- Art Director: Marianne Issa El-Khoury
- Imprint: Penguin
www.instagram.com/marianneissaelkhoury/?hl=en, https://abcoverd.co.uk/wp-admin
I Remember
By Joe Brainard
- Designer: David Pearson
- Art Director: Marigold Atkey
- Imprint: Daunt Books
Freezing Point
By Anders Bodelsen
- Designer: Henry Petrides
- Art Director: Pete Adlington
- Imprint: Faber
2666
By Roberto Bolano
- Designer: Suzanne Dean
- Illustrator: Diego Becas
- Art Director: Suzanne Dean
- Imprint: Vintage Classics
- Children’s 0-5
Wiggling Words
By Kate Rolfe
- Designer: Jo Spooner
- Illustrator: Kate Rolfe
- Art Director: Chris Inns
- Imprint: Two Hoots
The Witch in the Tower
By Júlia Sardà
- Designer: Sadia Chowdhury
- Illustrator: Júlia Sardà
- Imprint: Walker Books
The Greedy Wolf
By Timothy Knapman and Jean Jullien
- Designer: Deirdre McDermott
- Illustrator: Jean Julien
- Art Director: Deirdre McDermott
- Imprint: Walker Books
Winner Hogbert
By Briony May Smith
- Designer: Inês Amaral
- Illustrator: Briony May Smith
- Imprint: Walker Books
Doll’s House
By Ingela P Arrhenius
- Designer: Zoe Gregory
- Illustrator: Ingela P Arrhenius
- Imprint: Nosy Crow
nosycrow.com/staff/zoe-gregory/?srsltid=AfmBOopau-7GghcZ9qt5blsZPaW4K4tMcOL_BanYqUgIOCshk8OUtbHK
Cloud Boy
By Greg Stobbs
- Designer: Rob Lowe
- Illustrator: Greg Stobbs
- Art Director: Lily Trotter
- Imprint: Oxford University Press/ Oxford Children’s
- Children’s 6-12
The Boy With Big Decisions
By Helen Rutter
- Designer: Sarah Baldwin
- Illustrator: Shaivalini Kumar
- Imprint: Scholastic
Swanfall
By Sophie Kirtley
- Designer: Laura Bird
- Illustrator: Ben Mantle
- Art Director: Laura Bird
- Imprint: Bloomsbury Childrens
Lamberto Lamberto Lamberto
By Gianni Rodari
- Designer: Roman Muradov
- Imprint: Enchanted Lion
Head to Toe
By Pui Lee
- Designer: Avni Patel
- Illustrator: Pui Lee
- Imprint: Post Wave Publishing
Gloam
By Jack Mackay
- Designer: Ben Joel Price
- Illustrator: Ben Joel Price
- Art Director: Ben Summers
- Imprint: Rock the Boat
Winner Bear
By Natalia Shaloshvili
- Designer: Sasha Moxon
- Illustrator: Natalia Shaloshvili
- Art Director: Karissa Santos
- Imprint: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
- Literary Fiction
Winner Thirst Trap
By Gráinne O’Hare
- Designer: Daisy Bates
- Photographer: Vanessa McKeown
- Imprint: Picador
Tenterhooks
By Claire-Lise Kieffer
- Designer: Jack Smyth
- Imprint: Banshee Press
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One
By Kristen Arnett
- Designer: Emma Ewbank
- Art Director: Charlotte Strummer
- Imprint: Little, Brown
Sea, Poison
By Caren Beilin
- Designer: Jamie Keenan
- Art Director: Oliver Preston and Erik Rieselbach
- Imprint: New Directions
Parallel Lines
By Edward St Aubyn
- Designer: Suzanne Dean
- Art Director: Suzanne Dean
- Imprint: Jonathan Cape
On The Clock
By Claire Baglin
- Designer: Jack Smyth
- Imprint: Daunt Books
- Crime/Thriller
The Man Who Died Seven Times
By Yasuhiko Nishizawa
- Designer: Nathan Burton
- Art Director: Daniel Seton
- Imprint: Pushkin Vertigo
Strange Houses
By Uketsu
- Designer: Luke Bird
- Imprint: Pushkin Vertigo
Winner Fair Play
By Lousie Hegarty
- Designer: Lucy Scholes
- Illustrator: Javier Jaén
- Art Director: James Annal
- Imprint: Picador
Basilisk
By Matt Wixey
- Designer: Natasha McKenzie
- Illustrator: Natasha McKenzie
- Imprint: Titan books
A Trial in Three Acts
By Guy Morpuss
- Designer: Sinem Erkas
- Illustrator: Sinem Erkas
- Art Director: Steve Coventry-Panton
- Imprint: Viper
A Sharp Scratch
By Heather Darwent
- Designer: Charlotte Daniels
- Imprint: Viking
- Mass Market
Venus Fly Trap
By Emma Medrano
- Designer: Lauren Wakefield
- Illustrator: Simone Noronha
- Imprint: Michael Joseph
There Are Rivers in The Sky
By Elif Shafak
- Designer: Emma Ewbank
- Illustrator: Emma Ewbank
- Art Director: Richard Bravery & Chris Bentham
- Imprint: Penguin
The Fathers
By John Niven
- Designer: Jack Smyth
- Art Director: Rafaela Romaya
- Imprint: Canongate
Slags
By Emma Jane Unsworth
- Designer: Sarah Foster
- Imprint: Borough Press
I Want To Go Home But I’m Already There
By Róisín Lanigan
- Designer: Josie Staveley-Taylor
- Illustrator: Unpis Wa
- Art Director: Richard Bravery
- Imprint: Fig Tree
Winner Hot Wax
By M. L. Rio
- Designer: Patrick Insole
- Art Director: Patrick Insole
- Imprint: Wildfire