Blue Peter Book Awards 2012
For one year only, Blue Peter will be awarding two Book trophies — one for its annual Book of the Year and one for the Best Children’s Book of the Last 10 Years. The winning book for each Award will be announced during a special Blue Peter show dedicated to books on 1 March (5.45pm, CBBC) to tie-in with World Book Day.
Blue Peter’s Vote for the Best Children’s Book of the Last 10 Years
Blue Peter has begun its search to find the best children's book of the last decade, with the launch of an online vote in which its young viewers can choose from a shortlist of 10 iconic titles.
The shortlist is made up of the 10 bestselling fiction books (by volume) of the last 10 years for 5- to 11-year-olds with a first publication date between January 2002 and December 2011. Only the top-selling book per individual, named author is included. (Source: Nielsen BookScan TCM Top 5000 Children's Fiction (Y2) from 200101 to 201152 filtered by CMBC Interest Level 5─11 years.)
Children under the age of 16 can log on to bbc.co.uk/bluepeter to vote for their favourite until 4pm on Thursday 23 February.
Tim Levell, Editor of Blue Peter and Chair of Judges for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2012 comments:
Children care as much about books as adults do ─ if not more so. We wanted to capture that by creating a vote to find out which book from the last ten years they love the most. This is a fantastic list: every single book on the shortlist is a corker. Normally I'm all for playground harmony, but if on this occasion there is the odd playground argument about which book is better, then bring it on!
Enter our competition to win a complete set of the shortlisted books
Blue Peter Book of the Year
Booktrust and Blue Peter are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2012, which includes a fact book that contains all there is to know about the 2012 Olympics; a treasure trove of information about the extremes of the planet; a novel that investigates those strange howls in the night; and a tale of friendship, time travel and tragedy. The shortlisted books are now being judged by more than 200 young Blue Peter viewers drawn from 10 schools across the UK to decide the winner of the Blue Peter Book of the Year 2012.
Judge and author Linda Chapman comments:
I'm delighted with the shortlist! I think there's a great mix of books that will appeal to a wide range of readers — from those who love a good story to those who are hooked on facts. The important thing I think all four books have in common is that readers will be excited by them, want to re-read them and share them with their friends.
Judges
This year’s judges who selected the shortlist are the bestselling children’s author of the series My Secret Unicorn and Stardust, Linda Chapman, Librarian Rebecca Gediking and Blue Peter Editor Tim Levell. They were looking for the best two fiction and non-fiction titles that would appeal to boys and girls, aged between 6 and 12.
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Linda ChapmanAuthorLinda Chapman grew up dreaming of being a writer and riding in the Olympics. At least one of those dreams came true. She has now written over 150 children’s books including the very popular series My Secret Unicorn, Stardust and Not Quite a Mermaid and, in collaboration with Steve Cole, the Genie Us books. Her latest series Sophie and the Shadow Woods is also a collaboration, this time with Lee Weatherly and involves lots of terrifying shadow creatures, a very rude parrot called Nigel, a grumpy grandpa and a skateboarding heroine called Sophie. Linda’s dreams of riding in the Olympics have been shelved (for now). Instead she gives free-rein to her obsession by writing about horses in her new series for older readers: Loving Spirit.
Linda lives in Leicestershire with her husband, three children, two dogs and a pony. -
Rebecca GedikingLibrarianRebecca Gediking began her career in libraries working part time whilst studying for her degree in Drama and Theatre Studies at the University of Kent in Canterbury and hasn’t looked back since.
Rebecca now works as a librarian for Haringey Council and is completing her MA in Library and Information Studies at UCL. She enjoys working with children and promoting literacy.
She hasn’t hung up her dancing shoes yet though, and is still passionate about theatre. In her spare time Rebecca performs and directs shows with an amateur theatre group, Saint Monica’s Players (SMP), based in Enfield, North London. Her favourite show with SMP was the traditional pantomime Dick Whittington, in which she played the role of Spongebob Squarepants. -
Tim LevellBlue Peter EditorTim Levell has been Blue Peter Editor since September 2007. Previously he was the Editor of the children's news programme Newsround, where he was also a producer and reporter. In total, Tim has worked in children's media for 13 years. Tim has also spent time at Sky News and on the BBC News website, and started his career as a local radio reporter at BBC Radio Sheffield.
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