Highland Children’s Book Awards
Voted by young readers in the Highlands, the winners of The Highland Council’s Children’s Book Awards were announced at a ceremony held earlier today (Wednesday 20 June) in Strathpeffer Pavillion.
Sharing the top prize for the Picture Book category was Ed Vere for The Getaway and Niamh Sharkey for her book “I’m a Happy Hugglewug” Winner of the 8+ category was
Richard Hamilton with Ghostboy and the Moonbalm Treasure and the 12+ award went to Tim Bowler for Frozen Fire
The Book Awards are organised by The Highland Council’s Library Service with sponsorship from wind farm operators Falck Renewables and ANTA Pottery.
As well as a number of the short listed authors, attending the event were pupils from the 45 primary and secondary schools across the Highlands that had taken part. Since January they have all been busy reading, reviewing and voting for their favourite books.
Principal School Librarian Stephanie Hoyle said: “We launched these awards at a special young reader’s event in January and after a ballot in March a short-list of entries was drawn up. Pupils taking part were able to share their comments about the short-listed books on the book awards website which we set up and they had the chance to vote again in a final ballot, the results of which were kept secret until the awards presentation.
“I would like to thank all the school pupils for their help in selecting this year’s winners and congratulate all the short-listed authors, especially those who were able to join us today. All the books on the short-list were donated by the publishers so I would also like to thank them for their support.
“There is a wide and wonderful selection of books available nowadays for young people to read covering an enormous range of interests. A love of reading nurtured at a young age can last a lifetime. These awards have encouraged pupils to read and review a large selection of books that they might not otherwise have looked at and I am sure it has widened their tastes on the types of books they enjoy.”
Chairman of the Council’s Education, Culture and Leisure Committee, councillor Roddy Balfour said: “It is encouraging to see so many young people showing a real interest in reading a wide selection of books and it is an added bonus for them to come along to the award ceremony to meet and speak to their favourite authors. I hope they continue enjoying book throughout their lives.”
Earlier in the day the short-listed authors attended special workshops for pupils and answered questions about becoming writers.
The awards were presented by Goslpie High School S4 pupil Dale Pryde-MacDonald and afterwards the authors signed copies of their books before pupils went home.
Books on the 2007 short list were:
12+ category:
• Frozen Fire by Tim Bowler
• The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks
• Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer
• Fur by Meg Harper
• Soul Eater by Michelle Paver
8+ category:
• Ghostboy and the Moonbalm Treasure by Richard Hamilton
• Indie Kidd: Are we having fun yet (Hmm?) by Karen McCombie
• The White Giraffe by Lauren St John
• Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend by Francesca Simon
• You’re a bad man Mr Gum! by Andy Stanton
Picture Book category:
• Tyson the Terrible by Diane and Christyan Fox
• Captain Abdul’s Little Treasure by Colin McNaughton
• I’m a Happy Hugglewug by Niamh Sharkey
• The Cat who wanted to go Home by Jill Tomlinson and Paul Howard
• The Getaway by Ed Vere