FCBG CBA23
Yesterday the winners of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups’ Children’s Book Awards were announced at the very special award ceremony. Children and adults from groups across the country made their way to CLPE in London to attend this joyful occasion.
Although not travelling the furthest, I set off bright and early to make sure I arrived in time to offer help and support with setting up. Members of the FCBG, and the Executive Committee in particular, are an excellent, supportive team and everyone was busy, working hard to make sure everything was ready.
CLPE (or the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education) made the perfect venue for the occasion and Charlotte Hacking and her team were wonderfully welcoming! How they manage to get any work done when surrounded by such a glorious library is beyond me, but they certainly do amazing things! Lovely Richard from ‘The Children’s Bookshop’ in Muswell Hill had set up a very tempting book shop and we were all ready to go..!
The sun was beaming down as the guests started to arrived and the buzz of excited children with their equally excited grown-ups soon filled the room. The wonderful thing about the Children’s Book Award is that is really is ALL voted for by children- their voice is heard at each stage- and the enthusiasm of the children who attended was real evidence of this. They had read the books and voted for their favourites and were so excited to find out who the winners were.
The shortlisted authors, illustrators and their publishers were also arriving- and what a lovely bunch! People always say that the nicest people are involved in children’s books and my experience certainly supports this theory! Everyone was so pleased to see each other!
Having enjoyed a delicious pastry or two, it was time for the serious business of book signing. There were some well-thumbed copies around, evidence of how well read the books had been and it was a joy to hear the comments children were making, as they clutched their books tightly, after having met the authors and illustrators. If anyone ever needed any evidence that meeting the people responsible for the books really matters and makes a difference, this was it!
After a delicious lunch, it was time to gather for the awards. Last year, ‘Octopus Shocktopus’ by Peter Bently and Steven Lenton was the overall winner and Steven joined us to act as MC for the occasion. He was brilliant, creating a lovely relaxed feel to the occasion and making everyone laugh. He started by reading us ‘Octopus Shocktopus’ before everyone joined with an octopus-draw-along!
It might sound really corny, but each author and illustrator shortlisted for the Children’s Book Awards really is a winner. Their books have received the highest numbers of votes from children readers and each of them is given a beautiful portfolio of work which children have created in response to their books. These were presented by children from each group to each author and illustrator or their representative and we watched messages from those who were unable to attend on the day.
And then the winners of each category were announced. Once again, children were at the heart of the awards, opening the envelopes and sharing the winner of each category. The Books for Younger Readers Category was won by Olaf Falafel with ‘Blobfish’, Books for Younger Readers was won by ‘Loki’ by Louie Stowell and Jennifer Killick won the Books for Older Readers Category with ‘Dread Wood’. The winners were delighted - Jennifer Killick nearly made me cry as she nearly cried- and there was much cheering from the audience.
Each author/ illustrator who wins receives a prize and the one who is chosen as the Overall Winner also receives a personally engraved acorn and the engraved silver oak trophy for one year. Louie Stowell was this year’s overall winner and Non Pratt accepted the award on her behalf as she was unable to attend.
And all too soon…it was over! However, no one was in a hurry to leave and more books were signed, more congratulations offered, more cake finished up before eventually everyone started to say goodbye.
Everyone was keen to get their hands on copies of ‘Pick of the Year’ leaflet which includes the top 50 books which were voted for by the children- over 40,000 voted were cast before a further 30,000 were submitted for the Top 10 voting. It offers a great selection of books!
The event was a HUGE success. Many congratulations to all the short listers and category winners and a massive well done to the CBA team, particularly Sarah Stuffins as the CBA Coordinator. I can’t wait for next year!
If you are interested in getting involved in the CBA, please have a look at the FCBG website to find your nearest book group to join or ask about starting a group yourself!