A sneak peak at the Oscar's Book Prize longlisting process!

We're always thrilled by the quality and breadth of submissions we receive for Oscar's Book Prize each year.

We would talk about each and every submission if we could - and as you might know we make sure that they all go to the most excellent homes by donating all books not shortlisted to the wonderful Read for Good, which you can read about further down on this blog in the QA with Jo Jeffery.

However, while we only publicly announce the shortlist, we DO have a longlist stage, which is there as an additional round of reading in order to give the books the consideration they deserve.

This year we've introduced a formal panel, which has taken some of the pressure off of our usual longlist panel of the staff (and sometimes children!) at the Eveline Day Nursery in Wimbledon (the nursery that Oscar attended), though we are thrilled that they are still a part of things, as you'll see below.

While the books this panel of experts chooses will remain confidential, over the coming weeks we wanted to give some insight into how the books are selected at this stage - and who by!

From librarians to authors, read on to learn more about our brilliant longlist judges:

Bedri Beytula-Sali and Sajida Akber

Bedi is the manager of the Eveline Day Nursery that Oscar attended and Sajida is her deputy manager.

Ed Vere

Ed Vere is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling writer & illustrator of picture books, including How To Be a Lion and Max the Brave which was named one of The Sunday Times's '100 Modern Children's Classics'. He studied fine art at Camberwell College of Art and has been writing and illustrating children's books since 1999. Ed's books are published all over the world. He is also a painter, working from his studio in east London, and is represented by galleries in London and Los Angeles.

Janet Noble

Janet has spent twenty-six years promoting a love of books and reading to children of all ages as a children’s librarian in London. During the span of her career, she has worked in public libraries, for the preschool Sure Start Bookstart Plus Scheme, in school libraries and in a workplace specialist library for children and family social workers.

She is a member of the Library and Information Association (CILIP) Youth Librarian Group London Committee. She was a judge for CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards, the oldest children’s book prizes in Britain, in 2019 and 2020.  She will be Chair of the judging panel for CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards in 2023.

Jo Jeffery

Jo is the Fundraising and Digital Officer for children's literacy charity Read for Good. Jo's eldest child has been a regular outpatient at Birmingham Children's Hospital for nearly 13 years and she knows only too well the power of books and stories for children in hospital.

Viveka Alvestrand

Viveka is co-founder of Oscar's Book Prize and Oscar's mother. She's a freelance content producer and jewellery designer who is also passionate about younger year's reading and children's literature.