Fall 2023 Call for Submissions

Eligibility Requirements

1. For the fall 2023 edition of Best Books for Kids & Teens (BBKT), normally our committees would only be evaluating books/resources published between January 1, 2023 and June 30, 2023. However, due to ongoing supply chain issues, if publishershave books/resources published during the second half of 2022 that they were unable to submit to the spring 2023 edition, we will accept them now. Therefore, for the fall 2023 edition, our committees will be reviewing books/resources published between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.
2. All books and/or magazines being submitted must be intended for children or young adults.
3. Both fiction and non-fiction materials are eligible, for age levels up to and including eighteen years of age.
4. All books being submitted must be written and/or illustrated by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident (minimum two year residency).
5. For books where only the illustrator is Canadian, the illustrations must make up at least 40% of the book (i.e., chapter books or novels featuring black-and-white line drawings/illustrations are not eligible, unless they make up 40% of the book).
6. All magazines being submitted must feature the work of Canadian authors and/or illustrators and be produced in Canada.
7. All books being submitted must have a valid ISBN; all magazines being submitted must have a valid ISSN.
8. Audio and video material (CDs, DVDs or digital downloads) must be performed, produced and/or written by Canadians or based on Canadian children's books.
9. A book, magazine, CD or DVD must be in print and available for commercial distribution at the time of judging. Imprints from non-standard publishing houses are eligible, provided they have been assigned valid ISBNs or ISSNs.
10. The committees will consider any children's book, magazine, CD or DVD written or produced in English; any translation from another language into English; and any children's book, magazine, CD or DVD produced in two or more languages, where one is English and where the versions are bound together. They will not, however, consider titles originating abroad but purchased for Canadian publication, other than those written, illustrated or created by a Canadian.
11. New editions of previously published works, already selected in a previous issue of BBKT, are not eligible for consideration; however, we do appreciate receiving copies of new editions for our regional library collections. We will also mention its rerelease in BBKT (six copies are required). If the title did not appear in a previous issue of BBKT, it will be sent out for evaluation (in which case, we require 10 copies).
12. Paperback re-issues of hardcover books (with no revision) are not eligible for consideration for BBKT, but will be included in our regional library collections (four copies are required).
13. Collections of previously published works are eligible providing all other criteria are met.
14. Currently, the CCBC is not evaluating eBooks that are not also available in print format. Only books in print format will be evaluated; our juries will not be reading eBook versions. However, if your print books are also available in eBook format, please be sure to include the ISBN and pricing for the electronic format on the title submission form. For titles that are selected, we will indicate that an eBook version is available in the listing.

With the ongoing supply chain issues, we are requesting that PDFs of final titles (for books and magazines) be emailed to meghan@bookcentre.ca when title submission forms are submitted. The PDFs are not to replace the physical books. They are to be used in the event that publishers are experiencing any disruptions/delays with their distribution channels.



We welcome submissions containing books or resources that will be published after our deadline of March 31. Complete the online title submission form by March 31, 2023. For books and magazines, please email the final PDF of each title or issue to meghan@bookcentre.ca.

Follow up with physical copies of the books/resources when they become available. Once the CCBC has received your forms and PDFs, you will be sent instructions on where to send the physical resources.
 

After we receive your submission, we will send it to:

1. Best Books for Kids & Teens committee members for review,
2. the Best Books for Kids & Teens annotation writer, and
3. our regional library collections in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Hamilton.