It will take more than Children’s Booker Prize to arrest the dramatic decline in reading enjoyment

The prestigious Booker Prize has announced a brand new category for children’s books worth £50,000.

Open to books written in English and published in England or Ireland, the Children’s Booker Prize will recruit three child judges to join three adult judges in deciding which story deserves the accolade.

The announcement comes in the middle of a “ literacy crisis ”. A recent survey by the National Literacy Trust found British children were reading less and with less enjoyment .

The new children’s award hopes to reverse the trend. The Booker Prize Foundation plans to donate 30,000 copies of the shortlisted books to increase exposure to outstanding works of fiction for children. Its chief executive, Gaby Wood, declared, “The Children’s Booker Prize is not just a prize –