The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom.^[1] It was conferred upon the author of the book by The Guardian newspaper, which established it in 1965 and inaugurated it in 1967. It was a lifetime award in that previous winners were not eligible. At least from 2000 the prize was £1,500. The prize was apparently discontinued after 2016, though no formal announcement appears to have been made.^[2]

The prize was established in 1965 as the "only children's book award made to writers by their fellow authors"^[3](2005 shortlist) and inaugurated by the 1967 award to Leon Garfield for Devil in the Fog (Constable & Co., 1966). Through the 2000 prize, announced 28 March, it recognised one book published in the UK during the preceding calendar year.

Between the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 cycles, the prize schedule was rearranged to culminate in October during Booktrust Children's Book Week. "[F]iction for children aged seven and above, published in the UK between January 2000 and September 2001" (21 months) was eligible for the 2001 prize. Publishers were required to submit no more than ten entries by April 30.^[3]

At the same time, a summer program was inaugurated, using the newspaper's educational website and featuring a longlist announced in July. The program initially comprised merely an opportunity to vote for longlist favourites, comments by the judges to guide summer reading, and advice on "how to build a classic library of children's books".(2001 longlist) A version of the ongoing Young Critics contest was inaugurated in 2002 and the program has expanded since then to include online discussion and author interviews and appearances. Meanwhile, announcement of the longlist has advanced to late May or early June and announcement of the winner has retreated to November.

The shortlist of no more than four books and the winner were selected by three children's fiction writers, almost always including the latest winner. The Guardian described the prize as the only children's book award winner selected by peers. The newspaper's children's book editor Julia Eccleshare participated (from 2000 to 2016) in selection of the longlist and thereafter chaired the panel of final judges.

In years to 2016, a longlist of eight books was announced in May or June, a shortlist of no more than four announced in September, and a single winner. The longlist was the foundation for a summer program of reading, reviewing, and discussion.

The U.K. publishers of eligible books entered them for the prize with a fee, although the chair may call for submission. The publication year is August to July of the current year, but May, June, and July books must be submitted in advance. Books originally published in another language were eligible in English translation for five years.

Routinely, eligible books were entered for the prize by their UK publishers, as many as ten books each (2000) although chair Eccleshare also called for particular submissions.

Through 2016, 52 prizes were awarded in 49 years covering 1966 to mid-2015 publications. There were co-winners in 1992 and 1996.^[3]

Six books have won both the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Carnegie Medal (inaugurated 1936), which annually recognizes an outstanding book for children or young adults.

(Dates are years of U.K. publication, which were Carnegie award dates before 2006.)

• Alan Garner, The Owl Service (1967)
• Richard Adams, Watership Down (1972)
• Geraldine McCaughrean, A Pack of Lies (1988)
• Anne Fine, Goggle-Eyes (1989)
• Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials 1: Northern Lights (1995)
• Melvin Burgess, Junk (1996)

In 2001, The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland won the Tir na n-Og Award, best English-language book for young people with "authentic Welsh background".^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon won the 2003 Whitbread Awards as the year's best novel (not children's book) and the "Book of the Year" across all five categories.^{[citation needed]} The Guardian children's book editor Eccleshare wrote, "Published on both an adult and a children's list, it is one of the few titles for which the ubiquitous claim of 'crossover' is not a gimmick. It genuinely has equal, though different, appeal to all readers – 15-year-old Christopher Boone's narrative voice is at once childlike in its observations, and adult in its profundity."^[15]

In 2007, Pullman's Northern Lights was named "Carnegie of Carnegies" for the award's 70-year celebration.^[71]

The Young Critics competition was inaugurated in 2002 and is still underway. The newspaper solicited 200-word reviews of books on the longlist from children 16 and younger, with the prize being "a day editing and printing up their reviews".(retrospective by CA, 23 Sep 2002)

Ten years later there are dual competitions for children 17 and younger, one for individuals and one for teams of at least four schoolmates. There are cash prizes and free sets of the longlist books to the winners. Up to 30 students from the winning school also get a day at one Guardian site.(2012 Young Critics) The Young Critics contests are judged by Eccleshare, who also helps select the longlist, and another Guardian editor.^[72]

Beside the competition there is a summer book club that features one longlist book each week, with author interviews and discussion.

• Blue Peter Book Awards
• Carnegie Medal
• Children's Laureate
• Kate Greenaway Medal
• Nestle Smarties Book Prize