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Story Sharer of the Year Award

BookTrust’s Story Sharer of the Year Award celebrates an Early Years professional who deserves recognition for how they are using BookTrust programmes to bring the magic of books and reading to families, and making a big impact on children’s lives. But we need your help to find them…

Do you know an Early Years professional doing amazing things in their community to help families enjoy books and stories? 

Maybe they collaborate with partners in their community to reach more families, or find powerful ways to model sharing stories so families can try it at home. Maybe they make incredible story sacks for sensory play. Maybe they inspire other story sharers to build their confidence, or you’ve seen how they’ve helped families overcome barriers to enjoying books together.

Nominate a story sharer who has had a real impact on the children and families they work with by the closing date of 11pm on 15th January 2027 and they could win an incredible prize! 

Last year’s winner

About the award

  • We’re looking for nominations of story sharers who work with BookTrust Early Years programmes: this might be Bookstart Baby, Bookstart Toddler, Bookstart Pre-schooler, (or Bookstart Early Years in Wales), Bookstart Storytime, or our dual language or additional needs programmes.
  • Our story sharers could work in any kind of setting – from a community group to a library, children’s centre, nursery or anywhere else – as long as they use Bookstart programmes and have done so within the last 12 months. 
  • We’re looking for story sharers who are going above and beyond to engage families who might not normally read together to have fun with books and stories – whether they’ve come up with creative ways of encouraging a love of reading or are great at offering support and guidance to parents and carers. Please give us as much detail as possible, and any examples of what stands out to you about their ways of working. 
  • The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges, including Waterstones Children’s Laureate Patrice Lawrence and BookTrust Writer in Residence Lucy Rowland. Read what they said about this year’s award.
  • We’ll be announcing the winner in early 2027, the details of which will be shared when available. The winner will receive an award and a specially curated book bundle for their setting. 
  • Please note that we’d like to publicly celebrate our winning story sharer on our website, in newsletters and on social media, so please consider whether this is something they’d be comfortable with when you’re submitting your nominations. 

Nominate your chosen story sharer

Let us know the name of the setting they work in and where in the country it is, e.g. Once Upon a Time Children’s Centre, Leeds

Which of BookTrust’s Early Years programmes has your nominated story sharer delivered to families? 

Please include any examples of how they have been using our programmes.

Please tell us how they use BookTrust’s programmes and story sharing to engage with families and encourage a love of reading. Please include examples of any particularly creative, innovative or successful approaches that they have used, such as encouraging conversations around stories, modelling story-sharing techniques, helping parents and carers to connect with one another, or supporting parents and carers to recreate story-sharing experiences at home.

If you would like to, you can upload images to accompany your nomination – maybe you want to share a photo of a display or your Story Sharer in action. Please ensure the file name of anything you upload includes the name of your nominated Story Sharer, and note that you can only upload images and .zip files.


Stay updated

We’d love to share more with you about our work as well as family fun ideas, future competitions, events, fundraising activities and ways you can get involved. We’ll only contact you in ways you want, and we promise to keep your data safe. See our privacy policy for further details.

Are you happy for us to contact you by email?
Terms and conditions 
  1. Participants must be at least 18 years old to enter. 
  2. To enter the competition, you and your nominee must be a resident of England, Wales or Northern Ireland. 
  3. The competition is not open to employees (or members of their immediate families) of BookTrust. Bookstart Coordinators, however, are not directly employed by BookTrust so are welcome to enter. 
  4. You may nominate as many story sharers as you like, but you must only nominate each person once. Please submit one entry per person. 
  5. Entries must be submitted by 11pm, Friday 15th January 2027. 
  6. There will be one winner selected by a panel of judges (from all eligible entries). 
  7. If a chosen winner does not respond to correspondence within one week, a new winner will be selected. 
  8. To be eligible for nomination, story sharers must work with families directly and deliver one or more BookTrust Early Years programmes – including Bookstart Baby, Bookstart Toddler and Pre-schooler (or Bookstart Nursery in Wales), Bookstart Storytime, and our dual language and additional needs programmes – and must have done so within the past 12 months. 
  9. We will celebrate our chosen winner in our communications on various BookTrust channels, including but not limited to our website, newsletters, and social media platforms. Please consider if this is something that the winner would be comfortable with before nominating them. 
  10. Our decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into. 
  11. The prize will not be transferable to another person. 
  12. No part of the prize is exchangeable for cash or any other prize. 
  13. The prize is run by BookTrust of No. 1 Aire Street, Leeds, LS1 4PR. 
  14. Prizes will be sent out to winners by post. However, BookTrust cannot be held responsible for any prizes lost, damaged or stolen after they have been sent. 
  15. By entering you are agreeing to the terms and conditions in our privacy statement. 
  16. BookTrust reserves the right to amend the competition end date at any time. 

Hear from this year’s judges

I’m delighted to be joining the judging panel for BookTrust’s Story Sharer of the Year Award. The people who share stories with children and families play such an important role in helping reading to become a joyful part of everyday life. I’m excited to celebrate BookTrust’s brilliant delivery partners and discover the creative and inspiring ways that these amazing individuals are encouraging a love of stories.

Lucy Rowland, BookTrust Writer in Residence, author and children’s speech and language therapist.

From childhood to adulthood, I’ve always loved sharing stories. It’s a moment of true human connection. The stories we heard as children are often remembered with joy as we grow older. That’s why I’m so happy to join the judging panel for BookTrust’s Story Sharer of the Year award, an award celebrating the BookTrust partners who are helping to create these memorable moments. I know we’ll be seeing some truly remarkable entries, and I can’t wait to discover the people behind them.

Patrice Lawrence, Waterstones Children’s Laureate

  • Story Sharer Week

    • Guidance and tips
    • 0 to 4 years 

    Welcome to Story Sharer Week 2026, BookTrust’s annual celebration of our incredible delivery partners like you, who use Bookstart resources to help children and families discover the joy of stories.