Huge congratulations to Jamila Gavin, whose “exceptionally powerful” novel, My Soul, A Shining Tree has won the Nero Book Award in the Children’s category.

Told from the viewpoints of four characters, My Soul, A Shining Tree is an engaging and powerful First World War-set novel based on the inspiring true story of Indian gunner and Victoria Cross recipient Khudadad Khan.

The Nero Book Awards celebrate exceptional writing from authors based in the UK and Ireland. Each winner has received £5,000 and is now in the running for the Nero Gold Prize, Book of the Year 2025. The overall prize of £30,000 will be selected by a final judging panel comprising author Nick Hornby, BBC correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti and screenwriter Daisy Goodwin. The winner will be announced at a ceremony hosted by Sarah Montague on 4th March.

“The Nero Book Awards have gone from strength to strength in the past two years and our winners for 2025 are of incredible quality,” said Gerry Ford, founder and group CEO of Caffè Nero. “The judges had a difficult job deciding on the best in each category, with so many fantastic books published this year. Their selection epitomises what we look for with the Nero Book Awards – outstanding writing, incredible storytelling and the books you most want to press into the hands of others.”

To see the full announcement, click here.