The Café at the Edge of the Woods, written and illustrated by Mikey Please, won the overall 2025 Waterstones Children's Book Prize, as well as the illustrated books category. The awards are voted for by booksellers, with category winners receiving £2,000 (about $2,590) and the overall winner getting an additional £3,000 (about $3,880).
Bea Carvalho, Waterstones head of books, commented: "Our booksellers fell in love with The Café at the Edge of the Woods for its charmingly evocative artwork and its funny, quirky story which is told in such beautifully engaging cadence. This is a book which champions the fun and playful joy to be found in children's books, takes delight in the delicious and disgusting in equal measure, and begs to be read on repeat. We know that children and adults alike will fall for Rene and Glumfoot, their sweetly slapstick dynamic, and their gorgeously surreal world."
The other category winners were Rune: The Tale of a Thousand Faces by Carlos Sánchez (younger readers) and King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore (older readers).
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The Capitalist Manifesto: Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World by Johan Norberg (Atlantic Books) has won the 21st annual Hayek Book Prize, sponsored by the Manhattan Institute and honoring F.A. Hayek. Norberg will receive a $50,000 prize and deliver the annual Hayek Lecture in New York City on June 4.
Jury chair John Tierney called The Capitalist Manifesto "a wonderfully timely, entertaining and inspiring defense of free markets and free trade against the current critics in both political parties. Besides debunking the gloomy myths dominating headlines and politics, Norberg's rigorous analysis of recent data shows that people are not only healthier and wealthier but also happier in America and other countries enjoying the unprecedented benefits of economic freedom."