Established in 2003, Speech Pathology Australia’s Book of the Year Awards reward authors for excellence in promoting children’s speech, language and literacy skills.
Up to and including 2013, awards were given for the best book of the year for language development in three categories:
— Young Children (2 to 5 years)
— Lower Primary (5 to 8 years)
— Upper Primary (9 to 12 years)
In 2011, an award was added for:
— Indigenous Children
From 2014 onwards, four age-based categories replaced the original three, as follows:
— Birth to 3 years
— Three to 5 years
— Five to 8 years
— Eight to 10 years
From 2018 onwards, the categories were part of the Book of the Year Awards. Prior to 2018, the categories were a part of the 'Best Book for Language and Literacy Development'.
In 2022, they added a category for 'Decodable Readers' (not indexed on AustLit).
The award for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Authored Children’s Book was not included in the 2023 shortlists.
Each award is based on the book’s appeal to children, its interactive quality, and its ability to assist speech pathologists and parents in communication and literacy development.
Source: http://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/spa-news-a-events/book-of-the-year-awards Sighted: 3/12/2013, 14/10/2014.
