Specsavers Children's Book of the Year (Junior)

Winner 2025

Run Home Little Fox

Run Home, Little Fox

By Tom McCaughren, Erika McGann & Shannon Bergin

‘In the Wild Wood, a fox must be brave and cunning and quick.’

Foxy loves his mother’s stories about the Wild Wood: about rabbits and badgers, squirrels and owls, and the tall, thin deer, with horns like the branches of a tree. Foxy decides to set out on his own wild adventure. But can he be brave and cunning and quick enough to find his way back home?

About Tom McCaughren, Erika McGann & Shannon Bergin...

Tom McCaughren is a native of Ballymena, Co. Antrim. He resides in Dublin and worked as a journalist and broadcaster with RTÉ for many years. Now retired, he is a regular contributor to the Sunday Independent and continues his work as an author. He has written seventeen other books for adults, young adults and children, including the award-winning Run with the Wind series. His books have been widely translated and have received a number of awards, including the Reading Association of Ireland Book Award, the Book of the Decade Award from the Irish Children’s Book Trust, the White Ravens from the International Youth Library in Munich and the Oscar Wilde Society’s Literary Recognition Award.

Erika McGann is an award-winning children’s author based in Dublin. She has written more than twenty books for children of all ages, including the hugely popular Puffling series (with illustrator Gerry Daly), Standing on One Leg is Hard (with illustrator Clive McFarland) and Tabitha Plimtock and the Edge of the World (with illustrations by Phillip Cullen), which was awarded a White Raven by the International Youth Library.

Shannon Bergin is an Irish illustrator, avid doodler and tea drinker. As a kid, she wandered around the countryside making up stories and drawing on any available surface. As a grown-up, she basically does the same thing, but now it’s for books, galleries and other cool things. She has won several awards for her illustrative pieces. Her previous books, Evie’s Christmas Wishes (written by Siobhán Parkinson) and Over the Red-Brick Chimney (written by Una Leavy), were both shortlisted for Irish Book Awards. She loves books, gardening and all things colourful, with a hint of magic.

Explore the 2025 winners

Specsavers Children's Book of the Year (Senior)
The Book Centre Crime Fiction Book of the Year
Gradam Love Leabhar Gaeilge Leabhar Ficsin Gaeilge na Bliana
Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year
Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year
The Last Word Listeners' Choice Award
Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year
Irish Book Week Non-Fiction Book of the Year
Eason Novel of the Year
Ireland AM Popular Fiction Book of the Year
TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year
Dubray Biography of the Year
Eason Sports Book of the Year
International Education Services Teen & Young Adult Book of the Year, in honour of John Treacy
Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year
New Irish Writing Best Short Story in association with the Irish Independent
New Irish Writing Best Poetry in association with the Irish Independent