All you need to know about the inaugral BICW awards

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MultistoryLearning have instituted BICW awards to recognise the best Indian authors writing for children.  Naresh R, director of Multistory learning, shared more details about the awards. Naresh carries a large black bag everywhere he goes. Some say that it contains strange artefacts, broken phrases, and forgotten songs. He sleeps while he moves. He trades his stories for bread and soup.



  1. Why were the BICW AWARDS instituted? Tell us a bit about the people/institution who conceptualised the awards.

The Best of Indian Children’s Writing (BICW) – Contemporary Awards grew from the need to curate a set of stand-out, age-appropriate books to distribute in schools.

In 2017, we (the team from Multistory Learning Private Limited) reached out to a variety of Indian publishers to ask if we could procure the titles that we thought worked best for the themes and age groups that were a part of the reading list of the Book Lovers’ Program for Schools (BLPS).

We continued the same practice the following year and opened out the list as an award in the third edition of the BICW list this year. This has helped make the BICW list of books richer and more diverse.

  1. What is unique about the BICW awards? What is the process of selecting books for the longlist of awards? Karadi Tales, Penguin India, Good Earth, CBT and NBT are missing from the list.

The unique aspect of the BICW Awards is that it translates to guaranteed sales of the titles that have won the award. This does not always happen with books that win awards.

We sent out an email about the awards to all the publishers on our list with a note on the awards (the note is attached with this email). Our shortlist – available here and here - contains titles from all the publishers who nominated their books for the awards.

  1. There are over 30 categories for these awards. What prompted you to have so many categories? Will the categories remain the same in the coming years?

The categories are based on the themes under which books are picked for particular age groups as part of BLPS’ work. These themes are picked based on the broad topics that would interest a child at a certain age.

  1. Will the award winners receive any kind of citation?

They will receive a certificate, yes.

  1. BICW awards go a step further after the awards are announced. The winning books are going to be distributed as kits in schools.  This is a win-win situation for publishers and authors as it translates into sales and reaches out to more readers. What prompted this idea? How many schools will the initiative reach?

The first part of the question has been answered in 1). This initiative has the potential to reach out to anywhere between 70-100 schools in south India.

  1. Many of the BICW award winning books have been published prior to 2018. Is there a timeline for books considered for the long list?

The nomination criteria, reproduced below, specified a broad timeline:

Nomination Criteria:

• The titles submitted must be original, contemporary pieces of work.

• The author has to be a person of Indian origin.

• The title should have been originally published in India on or after January 1st, 2005.

• The title should be set in an Indian Context.

• The title should have completed at least 1 print run.

• Added bonus if the title fits the theme, the word count, and the age group of the list mentioned in

the Annexure.

• The title should be made available to the general public post the selection process.

  1. There is no category for 3-4 year olds or teens/Young Adults. Comment.

As this was the first time the list was instituted as an award, we wanted to do it for age groups that already have a lot of Indian books available in the market. Additionally, the award is tied to guaranteed sales. Hence, we wanted to do it for the age groups where there has been an increased demand for books from schools.

  1. Will you be considering books written in regional languages and nonfiction in the coming years?

We are likely to consider non-fiction in the coming year. We may consider books in regional languages a few years down the line.

  1. Is there anything else people need to know more about the BICW awards.

It’s a great introduction to all the amazing books that publishers across the country are bringing out for Indian children today.


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