Ruth Rendell Award 2027
Nominations are now open for the 2027 Ruth Rendell Award and will close on Monday 7 December 2026.
More information and the form to submit a nomination can be found further down the page.
About the Ruth Rendell Award
The Ruth Rendell Award celebrates authors, poets and illustrators who go above and beyond to champion literacy, and to support children, young people or adults to develop their literacy skills and to build a lifelong love for reading.
The award was launched in 2016 by the National Literacy Trust and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) in honour of the author Ruth Rendell, who tirelessly championed literacy throughout her lifetime and supported the National Literacy Trust since its foundation in 1993.
Anyone can nominate an author, poet or illustrator for this prestigious, annual award.
Nomination criteria for the Ruth Rendell Award
Nominees can be traditionally published or self-published, and each nominee should have gone above and beyond to support children to adults with their literacy skills, or to champion the importance of literacy, in the UK over the past year.
Examples of this could include:
- Working with literacy or education charities
- Working with schools, adult education settings or community groups to support literacy skill development
- Using their platform to highlight literacy issues (e.g. social media)
- Lobbying the government or other influential groups on literacy issues
- Participating in events and initiatives dedicated to developing reading and writing skills
Nominees should not be currently employed by the National Literacy Trust or the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS).
Nominees should be UK based and must have contributed to literacy development in some way other than publishing their work.
Previous winners
- 2026: MC Grammar
- 2025: Tom Percival
- 2024: Greg James & Chris Smith
- 2022/23: Dapo Adeola & Nigel Lungenmuss-Ward
- 2021: Cecilia Knapp
- 2020: Karl Nova
- 2019: Tom Palmer
- 2017/18: Cressida Cowell
- 2016: Andy McNab
Nominations are now open for the 2027 Ruth Rendell Award and will close on 7 December 2026.
To nominate an author, please submit the form below.