Win one of the Wainwright Prize shortlists

Choose from Nature Writing, Conservation Writing, Illustrative Books, Children's Fiction, Children's Non-Fiction, or Children's Picture Books.

Stories that connect people and the planet. The Wainwright Prize celebrates the very best in nature, conservation, and environmental writing. Inspired by the values of its namesake, Alfred Wainwright, the Prize champions books that deepen our connection with the natural world, inspire respect for our planet, and encourage us to care for the places and species we share it with.

This year's shortlists span six categories: Nature Writing, Conservation Writing, Illustrative Books, Children's Fiction, Children's Non-Fiction, and Children's Picture Books, celebrating outstanding storytelling for readers of all ages. This summer, we're delighted to give you the chance to win a shortlist of your choice!

The Prize winners will be announced at the Wainwright Prize ceremony on 17th September 2026.

Here are the shortlists in full:

Nature Writing

• Ancient: Reviving the Woods That Made Britain by Luke Barley
• Craftland by James Fox
• Ghosts of the Farm: Two Women's Journeys Through Time, Land and Community by Nicola Chester
• Love Is A Toad by Lucy Lapwing
• Stone Lands by Fiona Robertson
• The Cuckoo's Lea by Michael J. Warren
• The Genius of Trees by Harriet Rix

Conservation Writing

• Eat the Planet Well: How to fix our toxic food system - one meal at a time by Dave Goulson
• Every Last Fish: What Fish Do for Us and What We Do to Them by Rose George
• Green Crime: Inside the Minds of the People Destroying the Planet, and How to Stop Them by Dr Julia Shaw
• Neurodivergent, by Nature by Joe Harkness
• The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet by Scott Weidensaul
• The Savage Landscape by Cal Flyn
• When the Forest Breathes by Suzanne Simard

Illustrative Books

• Freshwater: The View from Above and the Life Below by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, illustrated by Bill François
• Funga Obscura: Photo Journeys Among Fungi by Alison Pouliot
• In Botanical Time: The Extraordinary Lifespans of the World's Oldest Living Plants by Christopher Woods
• The Book of Birds by Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane
• Waterlands: The Coastal Areas of West Sussex and Hampshire Borders by David Gilbey
• Wild Folk: Tales from the Stones by Jackie Morris and Tamsin Abbott

Children's Fiction

• Birdlands by Anthony McGowan
• Swanfall by Sophie Kirtley
• The Adventures of Portly the Otter: Untold Tales from the Wind in the Willows by M.G.Leonard, illustrated by Polly Dunbar
• The Danger of Small Things by Caryl Lewis
• The Green Kingdom by Cornelia Funke and Tammi Hartung, illustrated by Melissa Castrillón
• The Lone Husky by Hannah Gold
• Tree Thing by Piers Torday, illustrated by Matthew Taylor Wilson
• The Waters and the Wild by Eilish Fisher, illustrated by David Rooney

Children's Non-Fiction

• A Wild Child's Guide to Nature at Night by Dara McAnulty, illustrated by Barry Falls
• An Anthology of Remarkable Bugs by Jess French
• Choose Your Own Evolution! Go Extinct or Survive? You Decide! by Jules Howard, illustrated by Gordy Wright
• Letters From Wonderland by Josie George
• Otherlands: An illustrated journey through Earth's lost worlds by Thomas Halliday, illustrated by Gavin Scott
• Shapes of Nature by Ben Hoare
• The Cave Explorer by Kate Winter

Children's Picture Books

• A River Running Through You by Amy-Jane Beer, illustrated by Elin Manon
• The Night Creatures: Firefly by Robert Macfarlane and Luke Adam Hawker
• Isla and the Sky by Greg Stobbs
• The Great Bear by Annie Booker
• The Summer Puppy by Jackie Morris and Cathy Fisher
• The Sun Thief by Alice Hemming and Nicola Slater
• The Whale that Sings in the Deep by Yuval Zommer
• Whale Song by Nicola Davies and Britta Teckentrup

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