BfK News: November 2012

Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2012: Winners Announced

The winners of the 2012 Roald Dahl Funny Book Prize are Jamie Thomson for Dark Lord: The Teenage Years illustrated by Freya Hartas and My Big Shouting Day written and illustrated by Rebecca Patterson. This is the fifth year of the prize, which was thought up by Michael Rosen during his term as Children’s Laureate, and it remains the only children’s book award to take funny books seriously.

Rosen described Dark Lord: The Teenage Years as ‘a wonderfully absurd take on beings from another planet and like all books with this theme it makes us think about how odd and crazy we are.’

Fellow judge, journalist and author Lucy Mangan, praised Patterson’s comedy of manners My Big Shouting Day saying it made her ‘laugh and laugh’.

This year’s prize asaw schools across the country involved in the judging process. Over 500 pupils from across the UK read the shortlisted titles and voted for their favourite.  Their votes were combined with the votes of the adult judging panel to find the winners.

Costa Book Awards 2012: shortlist announced

Costa has revealed the books on the shortlists for the 2012 awards. Out of the one hundred plus books submitted for the children’s category, four have made it onto the shortlist. They are

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner, Hot Key Books

The Seeing by Diana Hendry, The Bodley Head

What’s up with Jody Barton? by Hayley Long, Macmillan Children’s Books

A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton, David Fickling Books

The judges for this year’s children’s award are Sarah Clarke of Waterstones and authors Marcus Sedgwick and Matt Whyman. The winners of the five categories will be announced on 3 January 2013, with the overall winner of the Costa Book of the Year Award revealed on Tuesday 29 January. Only once before has the overall prize gone to a children’s book: Philip Pullman won it in 2001 for The Amber Spyglass.