New Children’s Booker Prize to encourage more kids to read literary fiction

One the world’s top literary honours, the Booker Prize, is launching a new award to celebrate children’s literature and encourage more young people to read.

The Children’s Booker Prize will recognize the best contemporary fiction aimed at kids between the ages of eight and 12. Like the Booker Prize, it will be open to authors worldwide for works written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. Books translated into English will also be eligible.

The winner will receive £50,000 ($93,000), which is the same amount as the Booker Prize. A panel of judges composed of three children and three adults will select the winning entry.

The prize will be managed by the Booker Prize Foundation and backed by the London-based AKO Foundation, a charity that supports programs aimed at i