“You have rocked my world” was the response of author Danny Weston when he was named one of the winners of this year’s Scottish Children’s Book Awards at a ceremony in Glasgow today.
Mr Weston scooped the award for older readers, with Simon Puttock and Ross MacKenzie named the winners of the picture book and the younger readers’ awards.
Mr Puttock won for his book Mouse’s First Night at Moonlight School, illustrated by Ali Pye; and Mr MacKenzie for his novel The Nowhere Emporium.
The awards are voted for exclusively by children, with nearly 30,000 votes cast this year.
‘The readers matter the most’
Mr Weston, who won his award for his book The Piper, added: “I am absolutely thrilled to have won this award, especially because it has been voted for not by critics and industry insiders, but by the people who matter most; the young readers for whom the story was actually written.”
The Scottish Children’s Book Awards, run by Scottish Book Trust and supported by Creative Scotland, is Scotland’s largest book prize for children’s authors and illustrators, with each winning book receiving £3,000.
The awards were for three age categories - Bookbug Readers (picture books for 3-7), Younger Readers (8-11) and Older Readers (12-16).
A free copy of each of the three books in the Bookbug category shortlist was given to every P1 [reception] child in November as part of Book Week Scotland.
Want to keep up with the latest education news and opinion? Follow TES on Twitter and like TES on Facebook
