Call for Submissions: Best Books for Kids & Teens, Spring 2025
The CCBC is now accepting submissions for the spring 2025 edition of Best Books for Kids & Teens (BBKT)—our semi-annual selection guide to the best Canadian children’s books, magazines, audio, and video. The submission deadline is October 15, 2024.
We receive hundreds of submissions each year. Expert committees of educators, booksellers and school and public librarians from across Canada handpick the materials listed in the guide. Committees look for excellence in writing, illustration or performance. Most importantly, these committees focus on selecting materials that will appeal to children and young adults.
Materials submitted will not be returned, including titles that are not selected for inclusion.
Submission Guidelines
When is the deadline?
The deadline to submit is October 15, 2024.
What books and resources are eligible?
For the spring 2025 edition of Best Books for Kids & Teens (BBKT), our committees will only be evaluating books/resources published between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024. If you already submitted your books/resources published during the first half of 2024 to the fall 2024 edition, there is no need to resubmit them. Please refer to the Eligibility Criteria for further information.
Please note: Following feedback from the committees, we are reverting to evaluating physical books. Our committees will not be evaluating ebooks. The PDFs we are requesting are in the event that you are experiencing supply chain issues.
What do I need to submit?
- Please submit a completed title submission form for ALL titles you plan on submitting.
- Upon completion of the online submission form(s), please email a PDF of each title or issue (in the case of magazines) to meghan@bookcentre.ca. Upon receipt of the form(s) and PDF(s), you will be sent instructions on where to send the physical resources. Please do not send them to the CCBC’s office.
- The quantity of books/resources as indicated on each title submission form to the addresses provided in the subsequent email you will receive from the CCBC.
Please note: Materials submitted will not be returned, including titles that are not selected for inclusion.
How can I submit books published after October 15, 2024?
Books published after October 15 can be submitted the following way:
- Complete the online title submission form(s) by October 15, 2024. For books and magazines, please email the final PDF(s) of each title or issue (in the case of magazines) to meghan@bookcentre.ca.
- Follow up with physical copies of the books/resources when they become available*. Again, once the CCBC has received your form(s) and PDF(s), you will be sent instructions on where to send the physical resources.
*Please aim to submit the physical books no later than December 1, 2024.
Where will my books and resources go?
All submissions are:
- sent to Best Books for Kids & Teens committee members for review.
- sent to the Best Books for Kids & Teen annotation writer.
- sent to our regional library collections** in Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto
**For the regional library collections, we are asking that you send the books directly to the collections. Because the institutions housing the CCBC collection also house a number of other collections, please hold off on shipping your books/resources to them until all of your books have arrived at your warehouse. You will be provided with a simple Excel form to complete for each one. It is imperative that a copy of the form accompany the shipments so that they know the resources are specifically for the CCBC collection when they arrive. If you're sending books directly from a warehouse and including a printout of the form is not possible, please email a copy of the Excel form to the regional collections in advance to give them a heads-up. The email address for each collection representative is included on the form.
Eligibility Criteria
- For the spring 2025 edition of Best Books for Kids & Teens (BBKT), our committees will only be evaluating books/resources published between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024. If you already submitted your books/resources published during the first half of 2024 to the fall 2024 edition, there is no need to resubmit them.
- All books and/or magazines being submitted must be intended for children or young adults.
- Both fiction and non-fiction materials are eligible, for age levels up to and including 18 years of age.
- All books being submitted must be written and/or illustrated by Canadians. Our definition of Canadian includes Canadian citizens, permanent residents (minimum two-year residency), or First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples of the land that is now called Canada.
- For books where only the illustrator is Canadian, the illustrations must make up at least 40% of the book (i.e., chapter books or novels featuring black-and-white line drawings/illustrations are not eligible, unless they make up 40% of the book).
- All magazines being submitted must feature the work of Canadian authors and/or illustrators and be produced in Canada.
- All books being submitted must have a valid ISBN; all magazines being submitted must have a valid ISSN.
- Audio and video material must be performed, produced and/or written by Canadians or based on Canadian children's books.
- A book, magazine, CD or DVD must be in print and available for commercial distribution at the time of judging. Imprints from non-standard publishing houses (including those that are self-published) are eligible, provided they have been assigned valid ISBNs or ISSNs.
- The committees will consider any children's book, magazine, CD or DVD written or produced in English; any translation from another language into English; and any children's book, magazine, CD or DVD produced in two or more languages, where one is English and where the versions are bound together. They will not, however, consider titles originating abroad but purchased for Canadian publication, other than those written, illustrated or created by a Canadian.
- Paperback re-issues of hardcover books (with no revisions) are not eligible for consideration for BBKT. You may, however, submit these to the CCBC’s regional collections.
- New editions of previously published books are eligible provided they have not been featured in an earlier edition of BBKT.
- Collections of previously published works are eligible providing all other criteria are met.
- Following feedback from the committees, we are reverting to evaluating physical books. Our committees will not be evaluating ebooks.
Title Submission Forms
Please submit a completed title submission form for ALL titles you plan on submitting. Before completing the form, please refer to the Eligibility Criteria to ensure that your title is eligible.
Publisher Catalogues
Please email PDFs or links to the catalogue(s) that correspond with the eligible publication dates meghan@bookcentre.ca. If you act as a distributor for foreign publishers (e.g., US, UK, etc.), please check their catalogues to see if they have any eligible titles by Canadian authors and/or Canadian illustrators.
Books published by non-Canadian publishing houses are eligible, provided the author or illustrator is a Canadian citizens, permanent residents (minimum two-year residency) or First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples of the land that is now called Canada.