BEST
SCOTTISH CHILDREN’S BOOKS OF 2015 REVEALED
as
Winners
of Scottish Children’s Book Awards 2015 Announced
·
One of the youngest authors in Scotland wins
with debut novel
·
Two authors score a hat-trick with third
win each
·
Two of the three winning books explore
the subject of robots
Ross Collins, Alex
McCall and Cathy MacPhail were today announced as the
winners of the 2015 Scottish Children’s Book Awards during a special ceremony at
Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms, attended by 600 children.
Scotland’s largest book prize for children’s
authors and illustrators (each winning book receives £3,000), the Scottish
Children’s Book Awards are voted for exclusively by children and are run by
Scottish Book Trust and funded by Creative Scotland.
Over 28,000 votes were cast in this year’s
awards, which are judged in three age categories - Bookbug Readers (3-7),
Younger Readers (8-11) and Older Readers (12-16). Children across Scotland were
encouraged to read the three shortlisted
books in their age category and to vote for their favourite. A free copy of each of the Bookbug Category books was
gifted to every Primary 1 child as part of Book Week Scotland 2014.
Glasgow-based author and illustrator Ross Collins won the Bookbug
Reader’s (3-7 yrs) category for the illustrations in picture book Robot Rumpus, written by Sean Taylor. Published by Andersen Press, Robot Rumpus is a hilarious exploration
of what might happen in a world where robots cater to our every need. Ross is
the author and illustrator of over 100 picture books, and is a previous winner
of two Scottish Children’s Book Awards – one in 2008 for Billy Monster’s Daymare and another in 2011 for Dear Vampa. Growing
up, Ross attended Primary and Secondary school in Shawlands and then studied
illustration at Glasgow School of Art, where he won the Macmillan children’s
book prize in his final year. He also works in character development for
animators such as Disney and is a regular at the Edinburgh Book Festival.
Commenting on his win,
Ross said:
“I'm delighted to
win the Scottish Children's Book Award with 'Robot Rumpus!'. It's always
amazing to hear about the thousands of children who have read, debated and
reviewed the books - it makes this such a special award to win.”
Kintore-based debut author Alex
McCall, one of the youngest published authors in Scotland, won the Younger Readers (8-11 yrs) category for his first novel Attack of the Giant Robot Chickens. The book, published by Kelpies,
is a hilarious story packed with adventure and chicken jokes. 21 year-old Alex, who grew up in
Kittybrewster, wrote the novel in just 6 months after being inspired to put pen
to paper when author Caroline Clough visited his school in 2013. Alex currently
splits his time between promoting his book and studying Filmmaking and
Screenwriting at the University of the West of Scotland in Ayr.
This inaugural book has already won the 2013 Kelpies Prize. The sequel,
Revenge of the Giant Robot Chickens, will be published by Kelpies in
July.
Commenting on his win, Alex said:
“There’s something of a feeling of
coming full circle here. This is my first book and it got published through the
Kelpies Prize. But the only reason that I found out about the Kelpies Prize is
through a previous winning author coming to my school, through the Scottish
Book Trust’s Live Literature Fund. So while I’m delighted to win I also feel
very lucky that Scottish Book Trust exists in the first place. Being able to go
into school and meet the children that you are writing for is fantastic enough
as it is. Knowing that those kids have voted for you makes it even better. In
general participating in the Awards has been a really good experience. It is just
hard to believe that I’ve been lucky enough to actually win.”
Greenock-based author Cathy MacPhail, also a previous winner of two Scottish Children’s
Book Awards (in 2006 for Roxy’s Baby and
in 2010 for Grass) won the Older Readers (12-16 yrs) category for
her young adult thriller Mosi’s War.
Published by Bloomsbury, it is a taut, brilliantly written novel set in Glasgow which explores
the terrifying world of child soldiers. Cathy was born and grew up in Greenock where she lives to this day. It wasn’t until her
daughter became the subject of bullying that she was inspired to write her
first children’s book, Run, Zan, Run.
This won the 1994 Kathleen Fidler Award for new Scottish Writing. Cathy went on
to win many other awards including a Scottish Arts Council Book Awards for Fighting Back. Her other books include Fugitive, the Nemesis series, Grass and
Underworld among many others. She is
currently Patron of Reading at Falkirk High and an Ambassador for Children
First.
Commenting
on her win, Cathy said:
“I am absolutely delighted to have won
the Scottish Children’s Book Award...again! How brilliant is that! There are so many awards now for children’s
books, and all of them worthy, but for me, this is the best because it is all
down to the children. And if you can write a book that captures their
imagination, keeps them turning the pages, keeps them reading, then you have
won the lottery. All I have ever wanted
to do is write rattling good stories that children will enjoy, and this very
special award makes me think I must be doing something right.”
Jasmine Fassl, Head of
Schools at Scottish Book Trust, commented:
“These awards are built on the simple premise that if
children are encouraged to voice their opinions about the books they have read,
they tend to get a lot more excited about reading. There is nothing nicer than
celebrating the books that children themselves have enjoyed reading, and the
continuing success of the awards is down to everyone who is involved in encouraging
the children to vote – the authors, illustrators, teachers, publishers, parents
and librarians – who are passionate about giving children a love of reading for
life.”
Leonie Bell, Director of Creative Development at
Creative Scotland, said:
“Congratulations to
Ross, Alex and Cathy. It is a huge triumph to win this fantastic award and even
better to have been chosen by the children themselves. Thank you to all
the young readers across the country who voted and to the teachers, publishers,
parents and librarians who encouraged them. The Award not only encourages
reading, which impacts on education, wellbeing and imagination but by taking an
active role in the vote they are taking steps in their journeys as independent
readers. Creative Scotland
is delighted to be supporting these awards and the important work Scottish Book
Trust does in promoting the pleasures and benefits of books and reading.”
The total prize fund is
£12,000, with the shortlisted authors and illustrators receiving £500 per book,
and the winning authors and illustrators receiving £3,000 per book.
The Scottish Children’s Book Awards
are not only about reading but also about writing: the popular Book Review
Competition attracted hundreds of high quality entries from budding journalists
and authors all over the country, hoping to win book tokens for themselves and
an author visit for their school. The list of 2015 winners is available here
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