The Klaus Flugge Prize is awarded to the most promising and exciting newcomer to children’s picture book illustration. It honours publisher Klaus Flugge, a supremely influential figure in picture books who discovered and nurtured many top illustrators including David McKee, Tony Ross, Ruth Brown, Satoshi Kitamura and Chris Riddell.

Publishers have until the closing date, midnight 15 January 2027, to make their submissions. Eligible illustrators may have created book covers, or illustrations for other media, or illustrated books in another genre - for example, poetry or fiction - but eligibility for the prize requires that this is their first picture book for children. The book should have been first published on a children’s list in the UK between 1 January and 31 December 2026. Books first published in another country must have been co-published in the UK within three months of the original publication date.

Now in its twelfth year, the Klaus Flugge Prize was launched in 2016. The £5,000 prize is the only prize specifically to recognise a published picture book by a debut illustrator and is one of the most important and influential awards thanks to its spotlight on exciting new talent. Previous winners include Kate Winter, Eva Eland, Jessica Love, Flavia Z Drago, Mariajo Ilustrajo, Joseph Namara Hollis, Emma Farrarons and Kate Milner.

This year’s judges are 2026 Klaus Flugge Prize winner Forest Xiao; award-winning illustrator Ed Vere; Lucy Bannerman, children’s books critic The Times, and Shefali Wardell, Course Leader BA(Hons) Illustration at Falmouth University.

The winner will be announced at the 2027 award ceremony taking place in London on Wednesday 8 September 2027.

The winner receives a cheque for £5,000.

The submission form and full criteria can be found here.

For further information contact:

Andrea Reece

Administrator Klaus Flugge Prize

klausfluggeprize@gmail.com