It’s time to GO ALL IN on reading and get creative!
To celebrate World Book Day and the UK’s National Year of Reading 2026, our sponsors National Book Tokens are inviting children of all ages to DESIGN A NATIONAL BOOK TOKEN for their annual competition. This year’s winners will be selected by three very special guest judges: bestselling authors and illustrators Paddy Donnelly, Nadia Shireen and Sonia Leong!
The National Year of Reading theme, Go All In, is all about diving deeper into the things you already love through reading. Whether you’re passionate about football, animals, space, fashion, gaming, history, music or making people laugh, books can bring your interests to life in exciting new ways.
Challenge children to create a bold, eye-catching gift card design that celebrates their interests and shows how books help them explore ideas, spark imagination and go further through reading, and they could win prizes galore.
Six winning entrants will bag HUNDREDS of pounds or Euros for their schools and themselves so they can choose all the books they need during the National Year of Reading and beyond. Plus, one overall winner will see their design turned into a real National Book Token for every child in their class – and enjoy a visit to a bookshop to spend them!
So get the pencils, pens and paints ready… and let’s GO ALL IN this World Book Day.
PRIZES
ONE OVERALL WINNER (chosen from the first prize winners in each category) will receive a £10/€12 National Book Tokens gift card in their design for every child in their class,* and the opportunity for their class to visit a real bookshop to spend their National Book Tokens.
FIRST PRIZE in each age range wins:
£350/€400 National Book Tokens for the school
£100/€115 National Book Tokens for the pupil
SECOND PRIZE in each age range wins:
£200/€230 National Book Tokens for the school
£50/€60 National Book Tokens for the pupil
*Up to 35 gift cards; see terms and conditions for home-schooled students
HOW TO ENTER
To enter, children should design a National Book Tokens gift card on the theme of Go All In, using their designs to show how reading brings their passions to life.
Here are some ideas to get started:
- What do you love?
Think about your interests, hobbies or favourite things – from sport, art and music to animals, adventures, facts or fantasy. How does reading help you explore them more deeply? - How does reading connect to your passion?
Does reading help you learn new skills, imagine new worlds, discover real-life heroes, or understand something better? Try to show this through pictures, colours or symbols. - Go bold!
A gift card should stand out. Use strong images, clear ideas and eye-catching designs that make someone want to pick it up and give it as a gift. - Look at real gift cards
Check out gift cards in shops or online. What do they have in common? What makes your favourites work so well – and how can you use those ideas in your own design?
Remember: there’s no single ‘right’ way to read. This is your chance to show how you go all in on reading.
A panel of judges will select a winner and runner-up in each of three age categories: up to 8 years (selected by guest judge Paddy Donnelly), 9-12 years (selected by guest judge Nadia Shireen) and 13-16 years (selected by guest judge Sonia Leong).
All entries should be produced on A4 paper using the template.
Please ensure you provide the child’s name and age and your contact details.
Please send entries to:
World Book Day Design a National Book Token Competition
Book Tokens Ltd.
6 Bell Yard
London
WC2A 2JR
If you’re unable to post your entry to us, please complete the online form for the relevant age range:
As well as teachers and librarians, the competition is open to parents of home-schooled children and, if you’re a parent or carer, you’re welcome to submit your child’s entry individually.
Take a look at our terms and conditions to find out more.
The closing date for entries is Friday 27th March 2026. Winners will be announced in May 2026.
MEET THE JUDGES
To celebrate the National Year of Reading, this year’s competition will be judged by three very special guest authors and illustrators – each of whom has their very own National Book Tokens gift card for sale in shops across the UK and Ireland!
PADDY DONNELLY (UP TO 8 YEARS)
Paddy Donnelly is a bestselling, award-winning author and illustrator from Ireland who now lives in Belgium. He has published over 25 picture books, including The Vanishing Lake, Ava and the Acorn, Wolves In Helicopters and The Golden Hare. Not only was his popular book, Fox and Son Tailers, chosen as one of the official books for World Book Day 2025, Paddy is also the illustrator of one of the official 2026 books, Rose Ayling-Ellis’s The Big Bang! In 2025, he illustrated a National Book Token inspired by his charming picture book, Badger Books; the gift card is a delightful celebration of the magic of bookshops. Paddy has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration four times and his books are available in over 25 languages. He wishes that Pluto was still a planet.
NADIA SHIREEN (9-12 YEARS)
Nadia Shireen is an Official Ambassador for the National Year of Reading 2026. She has won awards for her picture books, including the UKLA Book Award for Good Little Wolf and Barbara Throws a Wobbler, which has been described as a ‘little doorway of joy’ by Caitlin Moran. She’s also won the Branford Boase award and been shortlisted for lots of awards including Oscar’s Book Prize, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Lollies, The Week Junior Book Awards and the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards. Grimwood is her first series for older readers, and also features on a brilliantly bonkers National Book Tokens gift card! The latest book in the series, Grimwood: Rock the Vote! is out in paperback this February.
SONIA LEONG (13-16 YEARS)
Sonia Leong is a comic book and manga artist, and author of popular drawing guides, including Draw Manga: Complete Skills and Beginning Manga. Her award-winning debut graphic novel was Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. She’s worked on Doctor Who, Assassin’s Creed, Domo-kun and Bravest Warriors, amongst many others. She also illustrates for children’s books, fashion, advertising, film and television, appearing on CBBC’s Britain’s Best Young Artist as a judge. She is the Director of Sweatdrop Studios, a UK-based independent comic publisher and is currently working on The Chronicles of Ciel, a series of illustrated fantasy light novels. In 2025, she designed the exclusive Manga Heros gift card for National Book Tokens; packed with dynamic energy and irresistible characters, it’s the perfect gift for manga fans everywhere!
LAST YEAR’S WINNERS AND RUNNERS-UP
Overall winner:
Congratulations to Ethan, age 15!
Winners in each age category:
Up to 8 Years category
Winner: Reva, age 8
Runner up: Grace, age 7
9-12 Years category
Winner: Jasper, age 9
Runner up: Harriet, age 11
13-16 years category
Winner: Ethan, age 15
Runner up: Ankita, age 15
INSPIRE, REWARD… AND SUPPORT READING FOR PLEASURE!
National Book Tokens have been inspiring booklovers since 1932. We work with our charity partners at World Book Day, Book Aid International and Read for Good – and through the thousands of people who give National Book Tokens as gifts and rewards to children and young adults each year – to encourage a lifelong love of reading among children everywhere.
Accepted in hundreds of bookshops across the UK and Ireland, and online with bookshops big and small, National Book Tokens are the perfect way to reward and inspire learners of all ages.
Did you know…
- National Book Tokens can be spent in bookshops everywhere and online.
- National Book Tokens don’t expire for 8 years, and all expired gift cards are replaced.
- National Book Tokens come in a range of brilliantly booky designs, can be personalised with your school’s crest or image, and are available as e-gifts and special presentation cards!
Want to know more about how schools use National Book Tokens to inspire, reward and motivate their learners? Visit nationalbooktokens.com/learning
WHY “GO ALL IN”?
The National Year of Reading 2026 is a Department for Education initiative, delivered in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust, responding to the decline in reading enjoyment among children and young people.
The campaign theme, Go All In, encourages pupils to see reading as a meaningful, modern and social activity, and to explore how books connect with the things they already care about. Rather than asking children to change what they enjoy, the focus is on using reading to deepen existing interests and passions.
This competition gives pupils the opportunity to:
- Reflect on their own interests and identities as readers
- Make personal, creative connections between reading and their wider lives
- Celebrate reading in a positive, inclusive and non-judgemental way
The activity works well as:
- A standalone World Book Day lesson
- A creative literacy task
- A cross-curricular activity linking reading with art, PSHE or wider curriculum topics