Blue Peter Book of the Year 2011

The overall winner of the Blue Peter Book Awards 2011 is Dead Man’s Cove - the first in a series - follows the adventures of Laura Marlin, an 11-year-old amateur sleuth, as she departs her children’s home and embarks on a new life with her mysterious uncle in St Ives. Packed with all of the ingredients of a classic British adventure novel, mixed in with modern-day themes, the book triumphed in the Favourite Story category before securing the ultimate accolade of Blue Peter Book of the Year 2011.
The book’s author, Lauren St John, was born in Rhodesia, living on a private game reserve until she was 16. She is also the author of the bestselling The White Giraffe series and has worked as golf correspondent for The Sunday Times. She now lives in London.
The enormously popular and influential Blue Peter Book Awards have been recognising and celebrating the best authors, the most creative illustrators and the greatest reads for children since 2000.
There are three categories of awards: Best Book with Facts, Most Fun Story with Pictures and Favourite Story. The favourite of the three is voted Blue Peter Book of the Year.
The category winners are:
Best Book with Facts:
Do Igloos Have Loos? by Mitchell Symons (Doubleday)
Most Fun Story with Pictures:
Lunatics and Luck (The Raven Mysteries) by Marcus Sedgwick, illustrated by PeteWilliamson (Orion Children’s Books)
Favourite Story:
Dead Man's Cove (A Laura Marlin Mystery) by Lauren St John (Orion Children’s Books)
The winning author and illustrator in each category were awarded a special Blue Peter Book Award Trophy.
The final nine books were judged by a selection of young Blue Peter viewers, who decided the winners in each category and, from these, selected the overall winner of the Blue Peter Book of the Year.
Lauren St John was interviewed in Carousel issue 43 (back copies available from Carousel).