J.K. Rowling won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997.
The award recognized the first Harry Potter novel during the same year as its British publication. The Nestlé Smarties Book Prize was a major UK children’s-literature award, and its results were strongly associated with young readers’ choices and popularity.
The success helped establish the book in Britain before the series became a global publishing event. Rowling’s first novel also received other children’s-book honors, including the British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year in 1997 and the Carnegie Medal shortlist recognition.
Award dates can be confused because later Harry Potter books won prizes in subsequent years, and international editions sometimes appeared at different times. The first novel’s Nestlé Smarties win belongs to 1997, its publication year in Britain.