2024 - The Children’s Book Prize

The Ministry of Unladylike Activity by Robin Stevens

1940. The world is at war, and a secret arm of the British government called the Ministry of Unladylike Activity is training up spies. Enter May Wong: courageous, stubborn, and desperate to help end the war so that she can go home to Hong Kong (and leave her annoying school, Deepdean, behind forever). May knows that she would make the perfect spy. After all, grown-ups always underestimate children like her. When May and her friend Eric are turned away by the Ministry, they take matters into their own hands. Masquerading as evacuees, they travel to Elysium Hall, home to the wealthy Verey family - including snobby, dramatic Nuala. They suspect that one of the Vereys is passing information to Germany. If they can prove it, the Ministry will have to take them on. But there are more secrets at Elysium Hall than May or Eric could ever have imagined. And then, someone is murdered . . .

2024 - The Sue Harris YA Prize

Five Survive by Holly Jackson

Eighteen year old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. It’s a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realise that this is no accident.

There’s a sniper out there. He’s watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for. As a game of cat-and-mouse plays out, the group desperately tries to get help. Buried secrets are forced to light and tensions within the group reach deadly levels. Only one thing is for sure. Not everyone will survive the night . . .

2023 - The Children’s Book Prize

Skulduggery Pleasant: Until the end by Derek Landy

The Faceless Ones have returned to our universe. The bad guys have won.

With the end of everything just days away - and no longer able to rely on Valkyrie Cain - Skulduggery must make allies of enemies if he's going to stand any chance of saving what's left of the world. And just when things are looking their bleakest, they manage to get even worse, with Omen Darkly suddenly having to step up when his brother, the Chosen One, falls.

There's a lot going on. Most of it is bad. Sorry about that.

2023 - The Sue Harris YA Prize

As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson

Pip Fitz-Amobi is haunted by the way her last investigation ended. Soon she'll be leaving for Cambridge University but then another case finds her... and this time it's all about Pip. Pip is used to online death threats, but there's one that catches her eye, someone who keeps asking: who will look for you when you're the one who disappears? And it's not just online. Pip has a stalker who knows where she lives. The police refuse to act and then Pip finds connections between her stalker and a local serial killer. The killer has been in prison for six years, but Pip suspects that the wrong man is behind bars. As the deadly game plays out, Pip realises that everything in Little Kilton is finally coming full circle. If Pip doesn't find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears . . .

2022 - The Children’s Book Prize

Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess By Nancy Springer

When Enola Holmes, sister to the detective Sherlock Holmes, discovers her mother has disappeared, she quickly embarks on a journey to London in search of her. But nothing can prepare her for what awaits. Because when she arrives, she finds herself involved in the kidnapping of a young marquess, fleeing murderous villains, and trying to elude her shrewd older brothers-all while attempting to piece together clues to her mother’s strange disappearance. Amid all the mayhem, will Enola be able to decode the necessary clues and find her mother?

2022 - The Sue Harris YA Prize

Dark Blue Rising By Teri Terry

Tabby lives a transient life with her mum Cate, never sticking in one place long enough to make friends. Until one day, an accident changes everything. Cate is arrested and Tabby realises her life has been a lie: Cate is not her mother.

As she adjusts to her new life, Tabby finds herself drawn to the ocean - the only place she feels happy - and enrolls at a swimming summer school to help her heal. But all is not as it seems. She and her new friends are cut off from the outside world and she's plagued by a repeating symbol of interlocking circles that follows her everywhere.. As Tabby begins to learn the truth about what the circles mean, and uncovers the terrible lies she's been told about her past, a final twist awaits her - a secret hidden in her DNA...

2021 - The Children’s Book Prize

Top Marks for Murder by Robin Stevens

Daisy and Hazel are finally back at Deepdean, and the school is preparing for a most exciting event: the fiftieth Anniversary. Plans for a weekend of celebrations are in full swing. But all is not well, for in the detectives’ long absence, Deepdean has changed. Daisy has lost her crown to a fascinating new girl – and many of the Detective Society’s old allies are now their sworn enemies. Then the girls witness a shocking incident in the woods close by – a crime that they’re sure is linked to the Anniversary. As parents descend upon Deepdean, decades-old grudges, rivalries and secrets begin to surface, and soon Deepdean’s future is at stake.

Can the girls solve the case – and save their home?

2021 - The Sue Harris YA Prize

One of us is Next by Karen M. McManus

Welcome back to Bayview High. . . It’s been a year since the events of One Of Us Is Lying. But nothing has settled for the residents of Bayview. Not now someone has started playing a sinister game of Truth or Dare.  

Choose truth? You must reveal your darkest secret. Choose dare? Well, that could be even more dangerous. Even deadly.

When the game takes an even darker turn, suddenly no one at Bayview High knows who to trust. But they need to find out who is behind the game, before it’s too late.

2020

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it. But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the crime, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still outfrom the truth . . .

2019

A Spoonful of Murder by Robin Stevens

When Hazel Wong’s beloved grandfather passes away, Daisy Wells is all too happy to accompany her friend (and Detective Society Vice President) to Hazel’s family estate in beautiful, bustling Hong Kong. But when they arrive they discover something they didn’t expect: there’s a new member of the Wong family. Daisy and Hazel think baby Teddy is enough to deal with, but as always the girls are never far from a mystery. Tragedy strikes very close to home, and this time Hazel isn’t just the detective. She’s been framed for murder! The girls must work together like never before, confronting dangerous gangs, mysterious suspects and sinister private detectives to solve the murder and clear Hazel’s name – before it’s too late . . .