Canberra artist honoured in 2023 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards

It is the first time a graphic novel has won the Older Readers category of the much-revered awards which were announced at the National Library in Canberra.

The book, Neverlanders, puts a gritty lens over Peter Pan's Neverland, creating a war zone left to a new generation of lost teens.

"I was really blown away by it," Sommariva, 45, said, of the win.

"When you draw comic books, you don't really expect to be recognised by the world of literature. Tom and I put so much love into this book."

After working for big American comics and drawing everything from Batman to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sommariva teamed up with Melbourne-based Tom Taylor to try to come up with their own graphic novel.

"We started literally from the ground up," he said.

"I drew the first five pages and sent it around and it was picked up by an agent and then published by Penguin and a year later, here we are."

The father-of-one from Evatt grew up in Canberra, and studied at a number of schools including Wanniassa High, St Edmund's College and Narrabundah College.

He also studied graphic design at CIT and finished a diploma at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment in Canberra. (And for a while was the front of house manager at the Canberra Theatre. "I might have served some people a champagne at interval," he said, with a laugh.)

While he was working in 3D animation in Brisbane, he shared online examples of his work, leading to his first break, drawing for American comic book writer Jay Faerber. It was a dream come true to be in the industry and working for the likes of Marvel and DC, but he wasn't finished yet.

"I always had that longing to come up with something myself, something I owned," he said.

Sommariva and Taylor are now working on their second Neverlanders book.

"It's our little baby and we want to see how far we can take this," he said.

The full list of award winners were:

The CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers: Neverlanders by Tom Taylor and illustrated by Jon Sommariva

The CBCA Book of the Year: Younger Readers: Runt by Craig Silvey

The CBCA Book of the Year: Early Childhood: Where the Lyrebird Lives written by Vikki Conley and illustrated by Max Hamilton

The CBCA Picture Book of the Year: My Strange Shrinking Parents by Zeno Sworder

The Eve Pownall Award: DEEP: Dive into Hidden Worlds by Jess McGeachin

The CBCA Award for New Illustrator was won by Sally Soweol Han for her complimentary visual storytelling in Tiny Wonders.