Which British literary award did J.K. Rowling win for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997?

J.K. Rowling won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997.

The Nestlé Smarties Book Prize was a major British children’s book award whose winners were chosen through a public voting process involving children. Rowling’s debut Harry Potter novel won the prize in the 9-to-11-year-old category.

This award was an early sign of the book’s popularity in Britain, before the later international growth of the Harry Potter franchise. Rowling won the same prize again for subsequent Harry Potter books, helping establish the series as a dominant force in children’s publishing.

The award is sometimes confused with the Carnegie Medal, another prominent British children’s literature honor. The Carnegie Medal is judged by librarians, whereas the Smarties prize was associated with children’s votes.