Royal Mail Awards 2010

Julia Donaldson, Barry Hutchison and Catherine MacPhail have been named as this year’s winners of the 2010 Royal Mail Awards, Scotland’s largest Children’s Book Prize (each winner receives £3,000 ) which is voted for exclusively by Scottish children themselves. The winners were announced today during a special circus themed ceremony at Glasgow’s Tramway Theatre, attended by 500 young people from all over Scotland. Best-selling author Julia Donaldson won the Early Years (Bookbug) category (0-7) for her picture book What the Ladybird Heard ((Macmillan), which is illustrated by Lydia Monks. Julia said: “I am absolutely thrilled that What the Ladybird Heard has won - especially as it's the fourth time I've been shortlisted, so I have been saved from despair! These are such worthwhile - and fun - book awards and I'd like to offer a big thank you to Scottish Book Trust and the Royal Mail, to my brilliant illustrator Lydia Monks, to the other authors and illustrators, and especially to the children who took part (even the ones who voted for the other books!)” Debut young-fiction author Barry Hutchison won the Younger Readers category (8-11) for his first novel, Invisible Fiends – Mr Mumbles (Harper Collins). He said: “When I found out that my first book was shortlisted for the award, I was shocked and delighted in about equal measures. I’ve been practicing my ‘gracious runner-up’ face for months now, fully expecting not to win. So to find out that Mr Mumbles has taken the prize was an absolutely brilliant surprise!” Popular teenage fiction author Catherine MacPhail won the Older Readers category (12-16) for Grass (Bloomsbury). A previous winner of the Royal Mail Awards in 2006, Catherine commented: “To win this wonderful award once was exciting enough, but to win it twice, I still can't quite believe it's true. It's a mistake, someone is going to come up and snatch it from me. But they won't get it. It's mine! And I am so proud that so many young people voted for Grass, such a simple story about such an ordinary boy. Delighted doesn't come close to describing how I feel."