The DANZ Award seeks diverse children’s books.

This means a work of children's fiction published in book form which pushes boundaries, challenges stereotypes, and celebrates diverse and marginalised people and communities.
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Diversity can include disability, culture, class, LGBTQI, race, and religion.

The diversity portrayed in the book and under which the book is nominated must be relevant, obvious, and important to the story but the story itself must be more than the diversity portrayed.

Authors and/or illustrators are not required to identify as "diverse" themselves; however, the submitted work must be sensitively and authentically written without using offensive, inaccurate, harmful, and insensitive tropes and representation. The judging process will be thorough and critical in this regard.

The award looks for something new, for inclusivity, and mostly for the celebration of minority people and voices.

The book must be published in Australia and/or Aotearoa New Zealand.

The author must be an Australian or New Zealand citizen or permanent resident. The illustrator does not. 

The illustrator may nominate a book with the author's permission. 

The book must have an ISBN.

The book must have been published in 2022 or 2023.

The book must be either a picture book, chapter book, or middle grade work of fiction