Rob Biddulph wins Waterstones ​children’s book prize 2015

Rob Biddulph wins Waterstones ​children’s book prize 2015 with debut Blown Away

The tale of a misplaced penguin scoops the overall prize for new and emerging authors, with Sally Green taking the teen category and Robin Stevens winning the younger fiction award

 

Rob Biddulph, winner of the Waterstones children’s book prize 2015. Photograph: Richard Saker for the Guardian

An adventure story about Penguin Blue and his friends’ unplanned trip from the Antarctic to the jungle (and back) has won the Waterstones children’s book prize.
Blown Away is Rob Biddulph’s first book, and he wrote it after telling the stories to his daughters at bedtime. He also works full time as the Observer Magazine’s art director.
Blown Away, which also won the best illustrated book category, is only the second picture book to take home the £5000 Waterstones prize. The prize has been running for 11 years and champions new and emerging talent in children’s books.

 

Judge Melissa Cox, who is in charge of buying children’s books to sell at Waterstones, praised the winner: “The test of a good picture book is not how good it is on first reading, but how enjoyable it is on its 50th. Blown Away more than delivers – its whimsical, madcap plot engages immediately and its rhythmic text drives the story along while the illustrations charm and thrill on every page. It is truly wonderful, and a very worthy winner.”
Rob Biddulph fought off stiff competition for the overall Waterstones prize from Sally Green who was crowned winner of the best book for teenagers with Half Bad. Half Bad is the first part of a fantasy trilogy set among a society of warring Black and White Witches.
Sally Green’s debut novel was tipped to be great before it was even published. It broke records by being translated into 25 languages pre-publication but, according to our reviewer Firebird, Half Bad “fully lives up to the hype”. Read Firebird’s review here and check out the first chapter of Half Bad.

 

Sally Green, winner of the best book for teenagers with her debut novel Half Bad. Photograph: PR

The sequel to Half Bad, Half Wild, was published today (read the first chapter here) and one of our site members has already given it a glowing review, which you can read here. Also look out for an interview with Sally going up on the site on Friday morning.
The winner of best young fiction was Robin Stevens with Murder Most Unladylike, the first in the author’s series of boarding school mysteries, featuring schoolgirls Daisy Wells and Holly Wong of Deepdean School for Girls.

Robin Stevens, winner of the best young fiction category with Murder Most Unladylike. Photograph: Max von Seibold/PR

Read this review from site member Kung Fu Kitty, who said once she started reading Murder Most Unladylike, she could not put it down. A sequel, Arsenic for Tea, was published in January with the third in the series, First Class Murder, due in July.
As category winners, Sally Green and Robin Stevens take home cheques worth £2000.
Congratulations to all the winners and all the shortlisted authors. Guardian teen site member TheReaderRunt will reporting on what happened at the Waterstones children’s book prize party on the site very soon – so look out for that!

THE BOOK MARKETING SOCIETY’S ANNUAL AWARDS FOR 2014

THE WINNERS OF THE BOOK MARKETING SOCIETY’S ANNUAL AWARDS FOR 2014

London, Wednesday 25 February 2015 The Book Marketing Society announced the winners of the Best Marketing Campaign of the Year Awards at the end of the Nielsen’s BookInsights Conference today. The Book Marketing Society (BMS) was founded in 2004 to champion marketing professionalism in the book publishing industry; the Society is now part of Nielsen Book. The BMS runs three Seasonal Best Marketing Campaign Awards each year to reward the very best campaigns within the industry. This year’s Annual shortlists are drawn from the winners of the Seasonal Awards in 2014, where campaigns must display outstanding innovation and creativity, the ability to reach and engage with the target audience and a good return on investment. To read the full press release: Nielsen BMS Winners

Good news for children's books in print.

Neilsen Bookscan - UK Sales
The UK children’s market has hit an all-time high in revenue and market share in 2014, and exceeded sales of Adult Fiction for the first time since accurate records began. Children’s print sales through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market were £336.5m. Nearly £1 in every £4 spent on print books (24%) was on a children’s title. Thirteen children’s titles sold more than £1m through the TCM last year, led by Walliams’ Awful Auntie (HarperCollins Children’s Books, £3.3m), Minecraft: The Official Construction Handbook (Egmont, £2.6m) and Kinney’s The Long Haul(£2.3m). The Adult Fiction market has been in a decline for five years and is now down 18.9% or £324m.

 

BEST SCOTTISH CHILDREN’S BOOKS OF 2015 REVEALED

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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 <insert link>.  

 

 

 

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Win David Walliams Demon Dentist!

We have 5 hardback copies of David Walliams new book Demon Dentist to give away to new subscribers, All you have to do is subscribe to Carousel during March and you will automatically be entered in the prize draw. The 5 lucky winners will be drawn out of the hat in April 1st (Not an April fool lol). You will be notified shortly afterwards. UK Subscription is only £13 for a year and the book is £12.99, so there's never been a better time to subscribe. Good luck!

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ASPIRING WRITERS AT

THE LONDON BOOK FAIR

Agent one-to-one sessions and The Write Stuff competition -

Call for Entries!

 

The London Book Fair (LBF), the UK’s biggest gathering of international publishers and agents, has announced a Call for Entries for itsAgent One-to-One programme and The Write Stuff competition, which are part of a whole range of initiatives on offer in Author HQ - LBF’s home for writers and aspiring writers, sponsored by Kindle Direct Publishing.

Agent One-to-One meetings will give authors an invaluable opportunity to talk directly to an agent from a leading literary agency about their books, seek advice about any stage of the writing process and receive direct feedback on pitches and ideas. Back for another year,The Write Stuff, a Dragon’s Den-style panel event, will see ten authors pitch their books to a panel of literary agentsin front of an audience in Author HQ, for the chance to win a follow up meeting with an agent. Each pitch will be a maximum of 2 minutes long, with agents providing on-the-spot feedback.

Author HQ, launched as a response to increasing interest from the self-publishing community, is now one of the most popular features at the Fair. There will be plentyon offer there for both established and aspiring authors, including a three day programme of seminars, curated by Midas Public Relations. Now in its fourth year, the Author HQ programme has been designed to provide the knowledge, tools and insight writers need to make informed decisions about getting their work published in a world where conventional and self-publishing opportunities offer an ever expanding number of routes to market. A stellar line-up of industry experts including publishers, writers and agents will be taking the stage to share their secrets of how to get published successfully, and a number of authors will also be on seminar panels to share their personal experiences.

Further details on the Author HQ seminar programme line up for 2015 will be announced at the end of February.

*LBF HAS A NEW HOME FOR 2015*

The London Book Fair has moved to its new venuefor 2015 - Olympia, West London, which means a new home for Author HQ too, which will be located on Level 1, Olympia Central. Visitors for Author HQ should access the Fair via the Olympia National Entrance.

All Author HQ @ LBF events are free-to-attend with the purchase of a three-day LBF pass which costs £35 (if booked in advance). Seminars are on a first come, first served, basis. Authors are advised to arrive early to avoid disappointment. For further details on how to enter for a place on either the Author One-to-One programme or The Write Stuff, please visit www.londonbookfair.co.uk/authorhq.