The winners of this year’s Stockport Children’s Book Awards, hosted by Stockport Libraries, were announced at a special presentation event at the Town Hall on Thursday 4th October.
Stockport Children’s Book Awards, now in their 23rd year, are highly regarded by the publishing industry as the winners are selected exclusively by children.
Stockport children, aged 4 to 16 years, read contemporary books and voted for their favourites.
The winners were:
• Best Picture Book: Can I Join Your Club Written by John Kelly. Illustrated by Steph Laberis. Published by Little Tiger Press.
• Best Read for Juniors: The Goldfish Boy Written by Lisa Thompson. Published by Scholastic Children’s Books.
• Best Teen Read: The One Memory of Flora Banks Written by Emily Barr. Published by Penguin Books.
Winning authors John Kelly, Lisa Thompson and Emily Barr were all present to receive their awards from some of the children who voted for them. Each winner received a piece of original artwork created in local schools.
Councillor Elise Wilson, Cabinet Member for Reform & Governance, welcomed everyone to the awards presentation. Councillor Dean Fitzpatrick, Cabinet Member for Education, presented the trophy for the school with highest percentage of children completing the Summer Reading Challenge to St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Marple Bridge. This is the third year that St Mary’s have won the trophy.
Councillor Wilson said “It was a huge honour to welcome everyone to this special evening which is a celebration of reading and books, to encourage our children to read for pleasure. Reading can open so many doors and can help children to be successful and realise their ambitions.”
Special guests also included the Mayor of Stockport, Councillor Walter Brett who presented reader of the year medals to all the children who have been recognised for their reading achievements.
The Book Awards are sponsored by Capita Reading Cloud and Bibliotheca.