Papas was a commended runner up for the 1964, 1967, and 1968 Kate Greenaway Medals from the Library Association, recognising the year's best work of children's book illustration by a British subject. He garnered six commendations including one "for work in general" (unique to 1964) and five for particular 1967 and 1968 books published by Oxford University Press: The Church by Geoffrey Moorhouse; No Mules, A Letter from India, A Letter from Israel, and Taresh the Tea Planter, four that Papas both wrote and illustrated.
