We are thrilled and delighted to discover that two JdM creators have been longlisted in the DANZ (Diversity in Australia and New Zealand) Children’s Book Awards, 2024.

Picture Book category: ​Be Careful, Xiao Xin! Written by Alice Pung and illustrated by Sher Rill Ng, Published by Working Title Press

Middle Grade category: Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased the Moon By Gabrielle Wang, Published by Penguin Books Australia

This is an especially big honour, for being the inaugural Award – and for what it stands for.
From the DANZ website;

The DANZ Children’s Book Award, launched for 2024, stands for The Diversity in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand Children’s Book Award and has been created to recognise, award, and celebrate diverse children’s fiction. This means a children’s book published in Australia or New Zealand which pushes boundaries, challenges stereotypes, and celebrates diverse and marginalised people and communities.

Diversity can include disability, culture, class, LGBTQI, race, and religion.

The diversity portrayed in the book and under which the book is entered must be relevant, obvious, and important to the story.

Authors are not required to identify as “diverse” themselves; however, the submitted work must be sensitively and authentically written without using offensive, inaccurate, harmful, and insensitive tropes and representation. The judging process will be thorough and critical in this regard. The award looks for something new, for inclusivity, and mostly for the celebration of minority people and voices.

The Shortlist will be announced in February 2024, with the Winners announced in March 2024.

Congratulations, and good luck all!