Children's Voice and Choice
Celebrating Indian Picture Books
Winner of
The Jarul Book Award 2025-2026
Winners of The 2025-2026
Jarul Book Award
Congratulations to Samita Aiyer, Vijaya Chakravarty, Ambika Karandikar and Karadi Tales on winning the
2025-2026 Jarul Book Awards
Runners up of
The 2025-2026 Jarul Book Award
No is a Good Word
by Bharti Singh
Illustrated by Urvashi Dubey
Published by Daffodil Lane Books
Why Are My Words Tangled?
Mamta Nainy
Illustrated by Gauri Shilendran
Published by Niyogi Books
Submitting a Picture Book for the Jarul Book Awards
Submissions for the 2025–2026 cycle are now closed.
Information about submissions for the 2026–2027 awards cycle will be announced around February 2026 on our Instagram account: @jarulbookawards. Please keep an eye there and here on the website for updates and guidelines.
The Longlisted books for
The Jarul Book Award 2025-2026
Can you Draw love, Abbu?
Alankrita Amaya
Alankrita Amaya
Little Dipper Publishing
Why Are My Words Tangled?
Mamta Nainy
Gauri ShilendranNiyogi Books
Go Go Flamingo
Devashish Makhija
Priya Kuriyan
Tulika Books
A Suitcase for Surtha
Riddhi Shah
Shruti Hemani
Karadi Books
No is a Good Word
Bharti Singh
Urvashi Dubey
Daffodil Lane Books
Ilham’s Birthday
Aftab Yusuf Shaikh
Tishya Malya
Tulika Books
What Am I Good At?
Rahul Pradhan
Sunaina Coelho
Kalpavriksh
My Ammamma is a Cat
Sowmya Rajendran
Niveditha Subramaniam Tulika Books
The Miracle on Kachhua Beach
Nandita da Cunha
Priya Kuriyan
Kalpavriksh
Is That a KudkudKumbha?
Samita Aiyer
Ambika Karandikar
Karadi Tales
Criteria
-
The book is published in India in the last three years
-
The author and illustrator must be of Indian citizenship
-
The artwork supports and enhances text features contributing to Indian literature, through a theme, clear expression of plot, character, setting, and style
-
Engage children aged 5-11 years
-
Exemplify a literary element or a life lesson
-
Could be either fiction, narrative nonfiction, biography, or non-fiction
-
Be in English (could be a translation from an Indian dialect)
-
Must be an original piece of work, retelling, abridged and compilations are not included
Adult Jury Schools
American School of Bombay
St. Mary's Malankara High School
Singapore International School
D.A.V. Public School, Thane
Little Angels' International School
Vidyadhiraja High school and Junior college
Don Bosco International School
Vidyadhiraja Primary School Bhandup East
Nalanda Public School
Bombay International School
Gopi Birla Memorial School, Walkeshwar