The North East Book Award (NEBA) was set up in 2005 due to popular demand; those schools who had taken part in the North East Teenage Book Award wanted a similar scheme to enthuse their younger readers in Year 7 and 8 about new books and exciting new authors too.

The aim of our younger and YA awards remains the same; we want to make our young people more aware of the quality and variety of exciting writing out there, to celebrate and support both established and up and coming authors and to create opportunities for the authors to meet their avid readers.

Books which make it onto the NEBA shortlist ALL have what it takes to be our eventual winner!

Books eligible for consideration for our shortlist must have been published for the first time in paperback in the previous 12 months and written by an author resident in the UK/Ireland.

This is to ensure that the books, and their authors, are as accessible as possible to all of our judges and schools.

March - shortlist announced
April - students begin reading, reviewing and debating
early June - students vote for their favourites
mid-June - winner announced at NEBA party in Newcastle. All schools taking part in the awards are invited
Dec-March - books selected for the longlist by librarians, teachers and previous student judges