Press release: Nominations now open for Bookbug Hero 2025

Nominations are now open for Scottish Book Trust’s Bookbug Hero Award 2025, which honours all those who make a difference to the lives of the young children, families and communities they work with. 

Now in its sixth year, the award is run by Scottish Book Trust, the national charity changing lives with reading and writing, in association with Walker Books. People across Scotland can nominate a librarian, early years worker, volunteer, health visitor, or anyone who uses Bookbug in their work for the award. The winner will be celebrated with a short film made about their work, a special trophy and a bundle of picture books worth £500.

Previous winners of the award gathered together at the Bookbug Hero Award Celebration event at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on 4 September to celebrate the success of Bookbug and five years of the award.

Ms Natalie Don-Innes, Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise, who attended the event commented: “The  Bookbug Hero Award is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the creative work of those who use Bookbug to support children, families and the communities they work in. It was a privilege to meet the previous winners and to hear about the impact of Bookbug on children and young people. Having seen 266 individuals nominated in the last five years I hope we’ll see lots of nominations again this year.

“The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to support Bookbug, working closely with the Scottish Book Trust to promote reading. We want to support all families to enjoy reading with their children from the earliest opportunity, promoting positive interactions and, attachment for families, which we know is key to children’s health and wellbeing in the long term.”

So far, in its five years, an incredible 266 individuals across 30 local authorities have been nominated as Bookbug Heroes, which is testament to the amazing number of people who have done extraordinary things to support their community with Bookbug.

Scottish Book Trust’s Bookbug is the biggest nationwide universal book gifting programme in the world, through which every child in Scotland receives four free book bags between their birth and first year of school. Around 450 Bookbug Sessions take place each week in libraries and community spaces across Scotland, and Bookbug for the Home practitioners support families on a one-to-one basis. 

Next year’s Bookbug Week in May, when the winner will be announced, will be a particularly special year for the wider Bookbug programme, as it celebrates fifteen years. 

Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said: ‘It was great to see our previous Bookbug Hero winners gather together for the Bookbug Hero Award Celebration event, and I look forward to seeing all the wonderful, inspiring nominations for Bookbug practitioners. Without their work, many families would not discover the fun and lifechanging benefits of sharing stories, songs and rhymes. It is fantastic to be able to recognise this important work through the Bookbug Hero Award, and thank you to Walker Books for their continued support in recognising these heroes.’ 

Ian Lamb, Head of Publicity at Walker Books, said: ‘Walker Books is incredibly proud to continue their sponsorship of the Bookbug Hero Award. In the 5 years the award has been running, we have seen first-hand the excellent community work it celebrates, and the passion for enriching children’s lives through books it reveals. We hope the award will continue for many more years and inspire many more people to take part.’

Nominations can be made on the application page on Scottish Book Trust's website until Friday 10 December.  

Scottish Book Trust

Scottish Book Trust is a national charity that believes everyone living in Scotland should have equal access to books. Our work provides opportunities to improve life chances through books and the fundamental skills of reading and writing. Access to books and a love of books bring many important benefits from family bonding and advancing children’s learning, to unlocking creativity, helping employability and improving mental health and wellbeing. Scottish Book Trust aims to support all communities across Scotland, with particular focus on those who are vulnerable and under-represented.  

Our programmes and outreach work include: 

• Gifting books to every child in Scotland to ensure families of all backgrounds can share the joy of books at home, through Bookbug and Read, Write, Count 
• Working with teachers to inspire children to develop a love of reading, creating innovative classroom activities, book awards and author events such as Authors Live with the BBC and our Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour 
• Supporting and nurturing Scotland's wide-ranging literary talent, both emerging and established through our training, awards and writing opportunities including New Writers Awards 
• Creating events to share books and connect writers with communities, including Book Week Scotland 
• Providing support to people living with dementia and their carers through Reading is Caring 

In addition to the funding we receive from the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland, we need the constant support of trusts and foundations, corporate sponsors and individual donors. 

Follow @scottishbktrust on X(this link will open in a new window), @scottishbooktrust on Instagram(this link will open in a new window) or like Scottish Book Trust's Facebook page(this link will open in a new window).

Walker Books

Home to books for all ages, Walker Books publishes many award-winning authors, illustrators, and literary franchises including Anthony Horowitz, Angie Thomas, Cassandra Clare, Lucy Cousins, Anthony Browne, Patrick Ness, Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury, and Where’s Wally? by Martin Handford. Walker Books is part of the vibrant international Walker Books Group that includes Walker Books Australia; Candlewick Press in America and its new division, Walker Books US; and Walker Productions.