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Children’s Booker Prize worth 50,000 pounds launched

The charity behind one of the world’s most significant literary prizes on Friday announced a new 50,000-pounds Children’s Booker Prize for fiction, to be selected by a combined panel of child and adult judges. The Booker Prize Foundation said the first edition of the children’s award will open for nominations in 2026 to be awarded annually from 2027. It will celebrate the best contemporary fiction for children aged eight to 12 years old, written in or translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland.

“The Children’s Booker Prize is the most ambitious endeavour we’ve embarked on in 20 years – and we hope its impact will resonate for decades to come,” Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation.

“It aims to be several things at once: an award that will champion future classics written for children; a social intervention designed to inspire more young people to read; and a seed from which we hope future generations of lifelong readers will grow,” she said.

Supported by education charity AKO Foundation, at least 30,000 copies of the shortlisted and winning books will be gifted to ensure more children can own and read the world’s best fiction.

The UK's Children's Laureate and multi-award-winning children’s book author and screenwriter, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, has been confirmed as the inaugural Chair of judges for the new prize.

While Cottrell-Boyce and two other adult judges will select a shortlist of eight books, three child judges will be recruited – with the support of schools and a range of partners across the culture and entertainment industries – to join the panel to choose the winning book.

Equipped with torpedoes and anti-submarine rockets, ASW SWC 'Mahe' delivered to Navy

Anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft (ASW SWC) 'Mahe', equipped with torpedoes, multi-functional anti-submarine rockets and advanced radars and sonars, has been delivered to the Indian Navy, officials said on Friday.

The first of the eight ASW SWCs being built by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi, is named after the historic port town in the Union Territory of Puducherry, and symbolises India's rich maritime heritage. It was delivered to the Navy on October 23, a spokesperson of the Navy said.

The vessel is "equipped for underwater surveillance, Low Intensity Maritime Operations (LIMO), anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations in coastal waters, and it has advanced mine-laying capability," he said. It has been indigenously designed and constructed by CSL, reflecting India's growing self-reliance in naval shipbuilding.

At approximately 78 m, with a displacement of around 1,100 tonnes, the ship packs a punch in underwater warfare, with torpedoes, multi-functional anti-submarine rockets, and advanced radars and sonars.

Induction of ASW SWCs will significantly augment the Indian Navy's ASW capability, enhancing maritime security in the littorals.