The Alligator's Mouth Award Party 2026

Last night, we welcomed publishers, agents, authors, illustrators and friends of the award to the Bright Agency (Clapham Junction, UK) for the eighth annual Alligator’s Mouth Award Party. It was a joyful evening celebrating all of this year’s shortlisted titles and crowning Bear and Bird: The Secret and Other Stories by Jarvis (Walker Books) the very best book for 6–8-year-olds.

The party brought together publishing teams, agents, authors and illustrators from every shortlisted title, alongside supporters of the award who do so much to champion brilliant books for young readers throughout the year.

We decorated the office with bunting and balloons, brought in a wonderful caterer to keep everyone fed, and had music playing as guests mingled, browsed the shortlist and caught up with old friends.

At quarter past seven, we paused the party for the official awards ceremony. After welcoming everyone and thanking them for coming, we handed over to Margaret Wallace-Jones and Tony West, co-owners of The Alligator’s Mouth Bookshop and co-founders of the award alongside The Bright Agency.

Margaret and Tony spoke about each of the shortlisted titles and what made them special and reflected on why this award matters more than ever in this Year of Reading. The Alligator’s Mouth Award exists to honour books that sit in that crucial space between picture books and chapter books, the stepping stones that help children build the confidence and joy to start reading independently.

They then handed over to Thiago de Moraes, one of this year’s judging panel, who opened the golden envelope on behalf of his fellow judges to reveal the winning title.

And the Winner Is…

Jarvis won the Alligator’s Mouth Award 2026 for Bear and Bird: The Secret and Other Stories, published by Walker Books.

As Jarvis couldn’t join us on the night, Shannon Cullen accepted the award on his behalf and shared a few words, before we played a special video message from Jarvis himself.

On his win, Jarvis said:

“I want to send a big thank you to everyone at the Alligator’s Mouth Award, I can’t believe Bear and Bird won! I love all the shortlisted books. I remember being at the Award Party two years ago when the first Bear and Bird book was shortlisted. I want to thank The Alligator’s Mouth Award for being a champion of this series from the beginning, it really means a lot to have that support.”

Margaret and Tony added:

“It was a wonderful Alligator’s Award shortlist this year, and Bear and Bird: The Secret is a worthy winner. This is a funny, clever and gentle addition to Jarvis’s popular series, reminiscent of the work of Arnold Lobel, and it will become a firm favourite with families who let these humble woodland creatures into their hearts.”

This year’s judging panel, Margaret Wallace-Jones, Tony West, Alex Latimer (2025 winner with Gordon the Meanest Goose on Earth), Alex Puddick, Tọlá Okogwu, Thiago de Moraes and Rashmi Sirdeshpande, were unanimous in their praise. Alex Puddick called the book “a truly deserving winner,” while Tọlá Okogwu praised its “beautiful writing and illustrations, humour galore and a surprise at every corner.”

This year, Coram Beanstalk once again ran the Longlist competition, giving schools the chance to win a full set of longlisted titles. Congratulations to our three winning schools: Maulden Lower School, Kings Hill Primary School and Grange Primary School.

We’re also delighted that Gardners returned as an official partner of the award this year, and are offering up to 50% off both longlisted and shortlisted titles until the end of July — a brilliant chance to get these books into even more hands.

After the ceremony, we thanked everyone once more for joining us, took plenty of photos and the evening continued with guests buying shortlisted titles, enjoying the food and drink, and celebrating together. It was a truly lovely night, and a wonderful way to mark eight years of championing illustrated fiction for children.

Congratulations again to Jarvis and the whole Bear and Bird team — and thank you to everyone who came along to celebrate with us.

The Alligator’s Mouth Award was founded in 2018 by The Alligator’s Mouth in partnership with The Bright Agency, with the aim of championing and celebrating highly illustrated fiction for children aged 6–8. Find out more at www.thealligatorsmouth.co.uk/award and follow #AlligatorsAward on Instagram.