Wilderness Society's Environment Award for Children’s Literature. Winners.

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The Wilderness Society's Environment Award for Children’s Literature was set up to help promote a sense of caring and responsibility for nature through quality Australian children's books. The rationale for the Environment Award is to create positive attitudes towards and understanding of, the natural environment.

Understanding how nature works will be essential if we are to help all life on Earth survive the impacts of global warming. Childhood is a time when most attitudes are formed. A good story can help children become receptive to a book's inherent values. The Environment Award encourages writers and illustrators who create books with environmental values.

You can help The Wilderness Society in it's important work by becoming a member or making a tax-deductible donation. Join here.

2008 Environment Award for Children's Literature

Going Bush by Nadia Wheatley and Ken Searle (Allen & Unwin)

‘No life without habitat’ is a recurring theme in books submitted for the Wilderness Society's Environment Award for Children’s Literature. This year is no exception.

The 2008 winner is Going Bush by Nadia Wheatley, Ken Searle and sixteen primary children from diverse cultural backgrounds (published by Allen & Unwin).

Going Bush demonstrates the rich abundance of life that can be discovered in a patch of inner-city bush.

The children’s journey of exploration, and their acknowledgement of the indigenous custodians, is told through the student’s vibrant artwork and writing, interlinked with photos, paintings and text by the adult authors.

Going Bush provides an inspirational and practical model for getting to know your local habitat, with the essential message of living in harmony with the land and with other people.

Shortlist Picture Books

The Last Tree by Mark Wilson (Lothian Books)

Mang the Wild Orangutan by Joan and John van Loon (Lothian Books)

Tyger! Tyger! By Elizabeth Stanley (University of Western Australia Press)

Natemba by Annette Lodge (ABC Books)

Lucy’s Cat and the Rainbow Birds by Anthony Hill and Jane Tanner (Penguin)

Dust by Colin Thompson and various artists (ABC Books)

Nautilus Pearl of the Deep by Jill Morris and Lynne Muir (Greater Glider)

Drom the Emu by Pauline Reilly and Kayelene Traynor (Bristlebird Books)

Shortlist Non-fiction

30 Amazing Australian Animals by Christopher Cheng and Gregory Rogers (Random House)

The Antarctica Book: Living in the Freezer by Mark Norman (Black Dog Books)

Weather or Not: It’s a Climate for Change by Caren Trafford and David Wilsher (Etram Publishing)

Wallabies, Wombats and other Mammals of Australia by Lee L. Curtis (New Holland Publishers)

Shortlist Fiction

The Other Side by Sally Morgan (National Museum of Australia)

2007

* Uno’s Garden by Graeme Base (Viking) Penguin Books, and
* Leaf Litter: Exploring the Mysteries of a Hidden World by Rachel Tonkin (Angus & Robertson) HarperCollins

This year’s Environment Award winners share the fundamental theme of ecological interconnection – how every species’ survival depends on a myriad of other species.

The Picture Book Winner is Uno’s Garden by Graeme Base (Viking). This is a lively and lavishly detailed picture book about environmental sustainability. A whimsical imaginary landscape demonstrates the importance of learning from past mistakes to ensure a balanced and liveable future. The added puzzles and mathematical details make it a fascinating book for all ages.

The Non-Fiction Winner is Leaf Litter: Exploring the Mysteries of a Hidden World by Rachel Tonkin (Angus & Robertson). Imagine sitting under a gum tree and discovering an astonishing new world of interconnection and unexpected beauty. This outstanding book will provide readers with hours of entertainment searching for the things described, while giving a superb demonstration of the interdependence of all life.

2006

Non-fiction Picture Book The Big Picture Book by John Long, illustrations Brian Choo (Allen & Unwin)
Secondary Readers Hope Bay by Nicole Plüss (Puffin)

2005:

Picture Book Award (joint winners) Belonging by Jeannie Baker (Walker Books Australia) and The World that we Want by Kim Michelle Toft (University of Queensland Press)

Non-Fiction Award The non-fiction winner this year is Greg Pyers

2004

Picture Book Award The Extinction Series by Gary Crew. Ill Mark Wilson (Lothian Books)

Non-Fiction Award Antarctica: The Heart of the World by Coral Tulloch (ABC Books)

Lifetime Achievement Tricia Oktober for Bush Secrets, Wetlands, Rainforest, Reef, etc. (Hodder Headline)
2003 Environment Award for Children's Literature Winners - June 04, 2006

Fiction Blotsvilleby Mary Steele. Illustrations Jiri Tibor Novak (Hyland House).

Non-fiction Solo Wildlife series by David Kennet (Omnibus Books).

Publishing Steve Parish for his outstanding contribution to environmental publishing.

2002

Picture book Yellow-eye by David Spillman, illustrated by Mark Wilson (Era).

Non-fiction Greg Pyers for his outstanding contribution to environmental non-fiction for children.

2001 Award Winners

Non-fiction

* The State of the Planet by John Nicholson (Allen & Unwin)

Picture books

* The Hidden Forest by Jeannie Baker, illustrated by Jeannie Baker (Walker Books)
* The Singing Hat by Tohby Riddle, illustrated by Tohby Riddle (Viking, Penguin)

Senior fiction

* Remote Man by Elizabeth Honey, illustrated by Elizabeth Honey (Allen & Unwin)

2000 Award Winners

Picture Books

* Mahogany the Mystery Glider by Jill Morris, illustrations Sharon Dye (Greater Glider)
* Sand Swimmers: The Secret Life of Australia's Dead Heart by Narelle Oliver (Lothian)

1999 Award Winners
Picture Book

* Islands in My Garden by Jim Howes, ill. Roland Harvey (Roland Harvey Books)

Non-fiction

* Australian Guide to series published by Gould League of Victoria. Titles include Pondlife

1998 Award Winners

Picture Book

* One Child by Christopher Cheng, illustrated by Steven Woolman (Era Publications)

Senior Fiction

* Blueback by Tim Winton, illustrated by Karen Louise (Pan Macmillan)

Non-fiction

* The Incomplete Book of Australian Mammals by Ronald Strahan, illustrated by Pamela Conder (Kangaroo Press)

1997 Award Winners

* Spiders Spin Webs by Yvonne Winer, illustrated by Karen Lloyd-Jones (Margaret Hamilton Books, Sydney NSW)
* High Valley by Colin Thiele (Walter McVitty Books, Montville QLD)

Colin Thiele was honoured not only for High Valley, but also for his numerous other children's books with an environmental ethic - the environmental equivalent, you might say, of Oscar's Lifetime Achievement Award.

1996 Award Winners
Picture Book

* The Story of Rosy Dock by Jeannie Baker (Random House)

Non-fiction

* Small Worlds series; Spotlight on Spiders and It's a Frog's Life! by Densey Clyne (Allen & Unwin)
1995 Award Winners
Picture Book

* The Fisherman and the Theefyspray by Paul Jennings, ill. Jane Tanner (Viking)

Special Award

* to Pauline Reilly, for her Picture Roo Books about Australian Animals; Emu, Sugar-glider, Kangaroo, etc. ill. Will Rolland & Gayle Russell (Kangaroo Press)

Short Listed 1995
Picture Books

* The Deliverance of Dancing Bears by Elizabeth Stanley (Cygnet Books)
* Secrets of the Rainforest by Margaret Dunkle, ill. Dailan Pugh (Hyland House)

Fiction

* A Matter of Cats by Elizabeth Hutchins (Hyland House)
* Lucy and the Whale by Jonathan Harlen, ill. Rachel Tonkin (Omnibus)

Non-fiction

* Who did That? by Jill Bruce, ill. Jan Wade (Kangaroo Press)
* Rainforest Animals by Chris Cheng (Ashton Scholastic)