Longlist 2026 – The Klaus Flugge Prize

Longlist Announced for the 2026 Klaus Flugge Prize

The year’s most exciting newcomers to picture book illustration: longlist announced for the 2026 Klaus Flugge Prize

#KlausFluggePrize

Thursday 19 February: The longlist for the 2026 Klaus Flugge Prize is announced today.

Set up in 2016, the Klaus Flugge Prize honours publisher Klaus Flugge, a hugely influential figure in picture books and founder of publishing house Andersen Press.

The £5,000 prize is awarded annually to the most promising and exciting newcomer to children’s book illustration and is the only prize specifically to recognise a published picture book by a debut illustrator. The Klaus Flugge Prize is regarded as one of the most significant children’s book awards.

“I love that this prize celebrates such a wide range of styles and approaches. There’s no single way to be a picture book illustrator—every voice and visual language has value.”

Emma Farrarons, 2025 Klaus Flugge Prize winner

This year 18 books have made it to the longlist. Andersen Press, Kumusha and Walker Books each have two books on the list, while independent publishers Graffeg, Otter-Barry Books and Scallywag Press are also represented. Three of the four books on the Waterstones Prize Illustrated Books Shortlist are in the running: Milo and the Mountain by Jamie Carroll (O’Brien Press); The Great Green Island by Becky Colvin (Macmillan Children’s Books); and My Rice is Best, illustrated by Maxwell A. Oginni, written by Selina Brown (Puffin).

The 2026 Klaus Flugge Prize longlist in full (listed alphabetically by illustrator last name):

The Great Bear illustrated and written by Annie Booker, edited by Helen Weir, design by Sue Mason and Lydia Coventry (Two Hoots)

Milo and the Mountain illustrated and written by Jamie Carroll, edited by Susan Houlden, design by Emma Byrne (O’Brien Press)

Room for One More illustrated by Jessica Ciccolone, written by Frances Stickley, edited by Alice Milner-Watt, design by Rebecca Garrill (Andersen Press)

The Great Green Island written and illustrated by Becky Colvin, edited by Emily Ford, design by Becky Chilcott and Lydia Coventry (Macmillan Children’s Books)

Baxter’s View illustrated and written by Kerri Cunningham (aka Murphy’s Sketches), edited by Jasmine Dove, design by Becky Chilcott (Fox & Ink Books)

Unity Street School Saves the Planet illustrated and written by Sheena Davies, edited by Janetta Otter-Barry, design by Sophie Pelham (Otter-Barry Books)

A Song of the Seasons illustrated and written by Yibing Deng, edited by Joanna Perdoni, design by Avni Patel (Post Wave)

We Are Like Birds illustrated and written by Laila Ekboir, edited by Laure Gysemans, design by Charmaine McDonough (Kumusha)

Mandy is Still a Banana illustrated by Amy Louise Evans, written by Zoe Arena, edited by Amy Anderson, design by Paula Burgess (Hodder Children’s Books)

That’s Not Stella illustrated and written by Donna Fredin, edited by Fay Evans, design by Lilly Gottwald (Flying Eye Books)

100 Goats and Granny illustrated by Lauren Hinds, written by Atinuke, edited by Alice Dawes, designed by Ines Amaral (Walker Books)

My Rice is Best illustrated by Maxwell A. Oginni, written by Selina Brown, edited by Andrea MacDonald & Annie Gnoan, design by Deborah Vickers (Puffin)

The Voyage that Changed the World illustrated and written by Thekla Priebst, edited by Hannah Dove, Katie Taylor and Kimberley Davis, design by Karissa Santos (Quarto)

The Hunt for the Fog Town Moose illustrated and written by Stefania Aldana Trujillo, edited by Annabel Walwyn, design by Charmaine McDonough (Kumusha)

Wolf in the City illustrated and written by Rachel Tilda Wolf, edited by Janice Thomson, design by Goldy Broad (Scallywag Press)

Henry the Artistic Dog illustrated and written by Justin Worsley, edited by Sue Buswell, design by Rebecca Garrill (Andersen Press)

Our Dance illustrated and written by Circle Yuen, edited by Matthew Howard, design by Joana Rodriguez (Graffeg)

Seven Babies illustrated and written by Forest Xiao, publisher Deirdre McDermott, edited by Maria Tunney (Walker Books)

This year’s judges are 2025 Klaus Flugge Prize winner Emma Farrarons; award-winning author illustrator Rob Biddulph; Shelley Jackson, course director for the internationally renowned MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University; and Vanessa Lewis, co-owner of independent children’s bookshop The Book Nook in Hove. Julia Eccleshare is chair of the judges.

Julia Eccleshare says: “As the Klaus Flugge Prize heads into its second decade, we are excited to reveal this year’s longlist, eighteen books covering a huge range of subjects, from the natural world, real life and our human emotions, to the world of the imagination. Their illustrators use of a wide array of techniques and illustration styles to tell their stories, convey mood and depict character. As the contestants on BBC’s The Apprentice discovered recently, creating a successful children’s picture book requires enormous skill and a very special level of creativity and we congratulate all these talented debut illustrators. Huge thanks as always to Klaus Flugge whose generosity makes the prize possible and who has done so much for picture book publishing.”

The shortlist will be announced on 14 May 2026, and the winner will be announced at an award ceremony at the Art Workers’ Guild, London on 9 September 2026.

A public event to celebrate the longlist will take place at Waterstones Piccadilly on Tuesday 5 May, when special guests judges Rob Biddulph and Emma Farrarons will be discussing their work and illustration styles.

For more information and interview requests contact Andrea Reece
andrea.reece@zen.co.uk | 07807893369