Booktrust is delighted to announce the second Roald Dahl Funny Prize.
Founded by Michael Rosen as part of his work as Children's Laureate 2007-09, the Roald Dahl Funny Prize is the first prize of its kind – founded to honour those books that simply make us laugh.
The Roald Dahl Funny Prize aims to:
> promote laughter and humour as a feel-good factor when reading, by encouraging families to read together and discover the pleasure of humorous (funny) books. This in turn will reinforce the message that reading together promotes family well-being.
> draw attention to funny books as readable and enjoyable books. We hope that the prize will enable these books to gain a profile that makes them more accessible to children and young people. The prize will work to achieve this through a range of activities supported by libraries, teachers and parents.
> reward and encourage authors (and illustrators) who write and illustrate books using humour in their stories, poetry and fiction. By creating these awards we hope to promote a vibrant area of publishing often overlooked by other awards.
The prize is awarded in two categories:
The funniest book for children aged 6 and under
The funniest book for children aged 7–14
2009 prize
Submissions are now being accepted. The deadline for entries is Monday 29 June 2009.
Download the terms and conditions and entry form (Adobe Acrobat .doc 81Kb)
The 2009 prize will be judged by comedian Bill Bailey, illustrator Mini Grey, author Louise Rennison, Michael Rosen (Chair) and author Andy Stanton, one of last year's winners.
Find out more about the judges
Bill Bailey commented: ‘I am very much looking forward to joining the judging panel for this unique prize. I have always been drawn to Roald Dahl’s brilliant dark humour and his surreal inventiveness, and I will endeavour to judge this prize with those qualities in mind.'
Michael Rosen, Chair of judges, said: 'People always want to know of funny books for children. There's always a birthday or a Christmas present to be thinking about, there's always a long journey, there are always wet days on holiday. But where are the funny books?
'They're here! At the Roald Dahl Funny Prize! We choose the top six funny books for the youngest and same again for the older children and then two outright winners from the twelve. It's a feast of laughs and giggles for everyone. I'm over the moon to be one of the judges again.'
Read the press release about the launch of the prize (Microsoft Word .doc 300Kb)
2008 prize
The winner of the funniest book for children aged 6 and under was The Witch’s Children Go to School by Ursula Jones, illus. Russell Ayto (Orchard Books)
The winner of the funniest book for children aged 7–14 was Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton, illus. David Tazzyman (Egmont Press)
Find out more about the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2008
Background to the prize
Michael Rosen explains:
'If there had been a prize for funny books when Roald Dahl was writing, he would have won it with every book he wrote! That’s why this award was named in his honour.
Children love funny books but when adults draw up lists of the best books they nearly always leave the funny ones out. When I became the Children’s Laureate, I said that my job should be as an ambassador for fun. That's why I came up with the idea of this funny prize, all part of the job!'
Felicity Dahl, the author's widow, said:
'Roald would have been absolutely thrilled to have this prize named in his honour. Humour is at the heart of all his writings and, as a strong supporter of new talent, he'd have been tremendously excited at all the wonderful funny books being published for young people today.'
Roald Dahl himself, of course, appreciated the role of humour in his writing:
'My lucky thing is that I laugh at exactly the same jokes that children laugh at and that's one reason I'm able to do it. I don't sit here roaring with laughter but you have wonderful inside jokes all the time and it's got to be exciting, it's got to be fast, it's got to have a good plot but it's got to be funny. It's got to be funny. Each book I do is a different level of that ...
The fine line between roaring with laughter and crying because it's a disaster is a very, very fine line. You see a chap slip on a banana skin in the street and you roar with laughter when he falls slap on his backside. If in doing so you suddenly see he's broken a leg, you very quickly stop laughing and it's not a joke anymore. I don't know, there's a fine line and you just have to try to find it.'
Visit the official Roald Dahl website
Prize administration
Prize information
Tarryn McKay
t 020 8516 2972
e tarryn@booktrust.org.uk
Press enquiries
Katherine Solomon
t 020 8875 4583
e katherine.solomon@booktrust.org.uk
