Šimo Ešić won several prizes for poems and short prose for children in the former Yugoslavia.
Also honored was his radio play Zeleni šeširić (The Little Green Hat). He received the annual award for the best children’s book in Bosnia and Herzegovina (for Rudarev kućerak, 1980 and Izmislionica u selu Pričevac, 2013), the October Plaque of the City of Tuzla (1982) and the awards Vijenac stare masline (Wreath from the Old Olive Tree, 2006), Mali princ (The Little Prince) and Zlatno Gašino pero (Golden Gascho’s Pen, 2009) for his contribution to the development of children’s literature in the South Slavic languages.
He was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Prize in 2008.