Children who have met Paddington at the Savoy Theatre, or grown up with In the Night Garden, Zingzillas and Moon & Me, already know Tahra Zafar's work, even if they have never heard her name. Today Action for Children's Arts announces that Zafar will receive the 2026 J.M. Barrie Lifetime Achievement Award. She joins previous recipients Sir Quentin Blake, Sir Philip Pullman CBE, Malorie Blackman OBE, Baroness Floella Benjamin DBE, Michael Foreman OBE and Jamila Gavin MBE.

The 22nd J.M. Barrie Awards will be presented on 12 November 2026 at 2.00pm in the Delfont Room at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London. The ceremony brings together artists, educators and organisations who enrich children's lives through the arts. Named after the creator of Peter Pan, the awards honour work that leaves a lasting mark on childhood.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Tahra Zafar

Zafar designed Paddington himself for Paddington the Musical, now playing in the West End. This year she shared the Olivier Award for Best Costume Design with Gabriella Slade for the production. Across more than 30 years she has created costumes, puppets, creatures and effects for theatre, film, television and live events. Her work for children includes the puppets for In the Night Garden, Zingzillas, The Adventures of Abney and Teal and Moon & Me. These are characters that a generation of children has loved, laughed with and fallen asleep to.

Outstanding Contribution Award: Ellie Griffiths

Ellie Griffiths has been Artistic Director of Oily Cart since 2019. Oily Cart is the world's pioneering sensory theatre company for children and young people. Her work rests on a simple conviction: every child, whatever their needs, deserves to experience the arts. Griffiths founded the Upfront Performance Network, which now connects more than 1,000 sensory theatre makers worldwide. She researched the future of sensory theatre as a Winston Churchill Fellow, and her work has been commissioned in Japan, Sweden, Australia and the USA. In 2021 she became the first UK artist to receive ASSITEJ's International Award for Artistic Excellence. This year When the World Turns, which she co-wrote and directed, won two Offies.

Education Award: English Touring Opera Learning & Participation

English Touring Opera's Learning & Participation department takes opera where it is least expected. Every year it commissions and tours new work for Key Stage 2 audiences and for children and young people with additional educational needs. This work reaches theatres, schools and libraries across the country, and has recently been performed at the Royal Opera House, Garsington Opera and the Luxembourg Philharmonie. Through ETO Perform, secondary school students create a brand-new opera alongside a professional director, composer, singer and stage manager. Through ETO Lyrics, students in Alternative Provision Units write lyrics and original music with classical and contemporary practitioners. Many of these young people are discovering for the first time that their creative voice matters.

Janet Robertson, Chair of Action for Children's Arts, said:

J.M. Barrie understood that childhood imagination is not a small thing. It is where every one of us first learns to wonder. This year's winners carry that belief into everything they do. Tahra Zafar has given children characters they will carry with them for life, from the Night Garden to Paddington himself. Ellie Griffiths has made sure that no child is left outside the door to any arts space. English Touring Opera is showing young people, often in the places they least expect it, that opera can belong to them. At a time when the arts are too often squeezed out of children's lives, these winners remind us what is at stake and what is possible. We are proud to celebrate them.