Judges

2023 guest judges

The 2023 Little Rebels judges are Emily Haworth-Booth, Jake Hope, Jim MacSweeney and Farrah Serroukh.

Emily Haworth-Booth

Emily Haworth Booth describes herself as an “Author-illustrator and educator with a passion for activism.” Her picture book, The King Who Banned the Dark, was shortlisted for 9 awards, including the Little Rebels Award in 2019. Most recently, she co-authored with her sister, PROTEST! How People Have Come Together to Change the World, (Pavilion Children’s Books, June 2021). Emily and her sister are activists with Extinction Rebellion and Emily is currently working on an ACE-funded graphic novel about climate anxiety. @emilyhb

Jake Hope

Jake Hope is a former children’s librarian and is now a reading development and children’s book consultant. Jake has judged nearly every major children’s book award in the UK. He is a passionate advocate for libraries books, is past-chair and current blog editor for the Youth Libraries Group and is the current Chair of the Working Party for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal. In July 2020, he published Seeing Sense: Visual literacy as a tool for libraries, learning and reader development (Facet Publishing). @Jake_Hope

Jim MacSweeney

Jim MacSweeney is the manager of Gay’s The Word, an LGBT bookshop which celebrated it’s 40th anniversary in 2019.   Originally from Ireland, he worked with the Minority Rights Group before joining Gay’s The Word in 1989. Gay’s The Word is a longstanding member of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers.

Farrah Serroukh

Farrah Serroukh is a former primary teacher and is now the Research and Development Director at the Centre for Literature in Primary Education (CLPE). She leads on the CLPE’s Reflecting Realities project and is the author of CLPE’s groundbreaking Reflecting Realities  Survey of Ethnic Representation within UK Children’s Literature. Farrah was awarded the Brenda Eastwood Award in 2019, in recognition of her pioneering work. Farrah has also been a judge on the Klaus Flugge Prize 2019 and the British Book Awards. @storyriver