S.K. Ali and Rosena Fung are both nominated for two prizes for the 2025 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Awards.
The seven awards, which include prizes for nonfiction, YA and picture books, annually recognize the best in Canadian children’s literature.
Ali is the Toronto based author of Fledgling, which is shortlisted for the $5,000 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award and the $5,000 Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Fledgling is the first book in a YA science fiction duology set amidst two earths on the brink of self destruction. When the dutiful Raisa of Upper Earth is arranged to be married to Lein, the Crown Prince of Lower Earth, Raisa obliges in the hopes of preventing further war. Lein’s cousin and recently imprisoned Nada has a different idea: stop the royal wedding and spark a revolution. As tensions rise between both worlds, the paths to tyranny or peace become more and more blurred.
Ali is a bestselling YA and children’s writer. Her books include the YA novels Saints and Misfits, Love from A to Z and Love from Mecca to Medina. She wrote the picture book The Proudest Blue and co-edited the middle-grade anthology Once Upon an Eid which won the Middle East Book Honor Award in 2020.
Ali was also the judge for the 2025 First Page student writing challenge.
Fung is the Toronto author and illustrator of Age 16, which is nominated for the $5,000 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award.
The dynamics of gender, race and motherhood between three generations of women are carefully explored in the coming-of-age graphic novel Age 16.
In 1954 Guangdong, Mei Laan is 16 and seeks an arranged marriage so that she can be “free.” In Hong Kong in 1972, her now teenage daughter Lydia is a dancer and longs for her approval. In Toronto in 2000, Lydia’s daughter Roz is struggling with body image and is confronted by family secrets when her estranged por por, grandma, makes a surprise visit.
Fung’s work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, giant murals and on TV. She is also the creator of Living with Viola.
The complete list of finalists are below. Many of the books are available in accessible formats for people with print disabilities through the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA).
The finalists for the $20,000 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award are:
A Face Is a Poem by Julie Morstad I’m Afraid, Said the Leaf by Danielle Daniel, illustrated by Matt James It Bears Repeating by Tanya Tagaq, illustrated by Cee Pootoogook Mad at Dad by Janie Hao SOS Water by Yayo
The finalists for the $10,000 Sharon Fitzhenry Award for Canadian Children’s Nonfiction are:
All Consuming by Erin Silver, illustrated by Suharu Ogawa The Longest Shot by Chad Soon, illustrated by Amy Qi Lost at Windy River by Trina Rathgeber, illustrated by Jillian Dolan Meet Jim Egan by Elizabeth MacLeod, illustrated by Mike Deas You Can Be an Activist by Charlene Rocha and Mary Beth Leatherdale, illustrated by Drew Shannon
The finalists for the $5,000 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People are:
Age 16 by Rosena Fung Eyes on the Ice by Anna Rosner The Go-Between by Jennifer Maruno Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams by Shari Green Wings to Soar by Tina Athaide
The finalists for the $5,000 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award are:
Age 16 by Rosena Fung And Then There Was Us by Kern Carter A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jean Ferguson Fledgling by S.K. Ali For She Is Wrath by Emily Varga The Lighting Circle by Vikki VanSickle, illustrated by Laura K. Watson
The finalists for the $5,000 Jean Little First Novel Award are:
Alterations by Ray Xu Maya Plays the Part by Calyssa Erb Teddy vs. the Fuzzy Doom by Braden Hallett
The finalists for the $5,000 Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy are:
Fledgling by S.K. Ali The Headmaster by Mark Morton Lockjaw by Matteo L. Cerilli Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities by Casey Lyall Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek
The finalists for the $2,500 Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award are:
Hummingbird / Aamo-binashee by Jennifer Leason, Anishinaabemowin translation by Norman Chartrand I Wonder About Worlds by James Gladston, illustrated by Yaara Eshet Mighty Scared by Erin Silver, illustrated by Hayden Maynard A Song for the Paper Children by Christopher Tse Two Pieces of Chocolate by Kathy Kacer, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard
The winners will be announced at an event in Toronto on Oct. 27, 2025.
Last year’s winners included Jean E. Pendziwol and Jack Wong.