Penguin Children’s Bookseller Grant 2025

Penguin Random House Australia, the largest publisher in the country, is thrilled to announce the Penguin Children’s Bookseller Grant, a $200,000 initiative designed to engage and entertain readers aged 0 -12, who are at a pivotal stage in their literacy journey.

Successful applicants will be notified on 14 November and rewarded upon implementation of the project.

About the grant

At Penguin Random House, we recognise the important role booksellers play in promoting literacy. In response to declining literacy levels, we have been exploring ways we could make reading more appealing to young people.  

It only takes one good book to make a lifelong reader. To make a meaningful impact on that introduction to reading, we are supporting booksellers with a $200,000 grant to fund initiatives aimed at encouraging children's interest in reading.

We hope booksellers will dream big and be inspired to try their wildest ideas to get kids excited about reading.

Whether it’s events, activations, installations or workshops – we can’t wait to see the ideas that booksellers bring to the table! 

The details

• Application questions: View here
• Terms & conditions: View here

Key dates

• Applications open: 15 July, 2025 at 9AM AEST
• Applications close: 20 October, 2025 at 5pm AEST
• Winners contacted: 14 November, 2025 at 5pm AEST

Further info

• Successful applicants will receive grants valued between $1,000 and $8,000 inclusive of GST in the form of credit on customer accounts.
• Applications will be judged in October and November 2025 and rewarded upon implementation of the project.

FAQs

Am I eligible to apply for a grant?

This grant is open to Australian booksellers with a dedicated children’s book section. Applicants must have the sale of books as their primary source of revenue. Department stores, discount department stores, supermarkets and any company with more than 15 stores and their related entities are ineligible to apply.

How do I apply for a grant?

To apply for a grant, eligible applicants must, during the grant period complete the Bookseller Children’s Grant Application via the portal below (along with the option to upload any supporting material as a single file, up to 10MB in size).

Apply now

Note that you cannot save and return to your application within the portal, so we recommend drafting responses to the application questions before you start filling it out.