Competition: The Book that Represents Me

Tell us about a book that represents who you are for the chance to win some amazing prizes...

We want to find the most compelling review of a book in which a child feels at least one aspect of their identity is authentically represented. In 350 words or less, the review should include an explanation of why other children should read the book, how it makes them feel represented, and why this matters to them. Annotated drawings/graphic novel-style review entries are also welcomed. The competition is open to children in Years 3 to 8. 

The competition will be judged by a BookTrust panel, with guest judges including award-winning, bestselling authors Sharna Jackson and Michael Mann, and a representative from Enterprise Mobility, our corporate partner for BookTrust Represents.

First Prize (x1): 

  • A £3000 library of inclusive books curated for your school in consultation with the BookTrust books team and inclusive books expert, SanchitaBasu De Sarkar  

  • An in-person school visit by an author of colour, organized by BookTrust in consultation with your school.  

  • 100 copies of the visiting author’s books so that children can have a signed book to keep after the author visit. 

 Second Prize (x2): 

  • An inclusive book parcel of 100 books for your school library, chosen in consultation with the BookTrust Books Team.  

Highly Commended Prize (x10): 

  • A book to keep, chosen by each winner from a list curated by our book expert.  

  • Winning reviews will be published on the BookTrust website.  

  • 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will also win book bundles for their schools.  

How to enter:

By email - send entries to [email protected] including ‘BTR Competition’ + your school name in the email subject line. Please include the name and age of each entrant in the body of your email.

By post – address entries to BTR Competition, BookTrust, 29 Clerkenwell Road, Farringdon, London, EC1M 5RN. Please include the name and postcode of your school and the name and age of each entrant.

Entries are restricted to a maximum of five entries per year group from each school.

Deadline: Friday 14th March 2025

Download the worksheets

Download the Powerpoint (7.8mb)

Terms and conditions

  • View the Terms & Conditions

    1. To enter the competition, you must be a resident of England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
    2. The competition is not open to employees (or members of their immediate families) of BookTrust.
    3. This is a competition for schools and homeschooling groupsand the prize will only be sent to a named contact at a school address or homeschooling group address.
    4. Entries are restricted to a maximum of five entries per year group from each school.
    5. This competition is only open to children in Years 3-8 in England and Wales, P4-S2 in Scotland, and P4-Y8 in Northern Ireland.
    6. Entries must be submitted by 11pm on Friday, 14 March 2025.
    7. There will be one 1st prize winner selected by a judging panel.
    8. There will be two 2nd prize winners selected by a judging panel.
    9. There will be ten Highly Commended prize winners selected by a judging panel.
    10. If a chosen winner does not respond to correspondence within one week, a new winner will be selected.
    11. Our decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
    12. The prize will not be transferable to another person.
    13. No part of the prize is exchangeable for cash or any other prize.
    14. The prize is run by BookTrust of No. 1 Aire Street, Leeds, LS1 4PR. However, the prize will be sent out by a third party and by entering you acknowledge that your details will be passed on to them, solely for the purposes of administering this competition.
    15. The in-person author visit will be arranged directly between the winners and BookTrustat a time and date to suit both partiesto take place before 1st April 2025.
    16. Where a third party is supplying a prize, BookTrust accepts no responsibility for inaccuracy of any prize description, and the third party is responsible for prize fulfilment.
    17. By entering you are agreeing to the terms and conditions in our privacy statement.
    18. BookTrust reserves the right to amend the competition end date at any time.
    19. By participating in this competition, you are agreeing to these terms and conditions.
    20. By entering the competition, you acknowledge that entries may be shared by BookTrust - including, but not limited to, on our website and social media, and in newsletters and marketing materials. By entering, you also confirm that you have obtained any necessary permission from a child's parent or carer.
    21. This is a competition for children, but their entries must be submitted by an adult who is at least 18 years old.

Note for teachers:

This competition ties in with the writing curriculum (writing effectively for a range of purposes, writing to persuade). It will also support delivery of the following areas of the reading curriculum:

  • recommending books that they have read to their peers, giving reasons for their choices 
  • identifying and discussing themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing  
  • making comparisons within and across books
  • drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence
  • summarising the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas 
  • identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning 
  • discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader.

 

About Inclusive Books Expert, Sanchita Basu De Sarkar

Sanchita is the owner of the Children's Bookshop in Muswell Hill, which was awarded the double accolade of Children's Bookseller of the Year and Book Retailer of the Year at the British Book Awards 2024. It is the oldest running children's bookshop in the country.

Sanchita has previously been a judge for the Costa Book Award, the Branford Boase Award, the British Book Awards, and the Week Junior Awards, amongst others. She sits on the Children’s Laureate Steering Group, and is the co-founder of Sail Fest, an organisation dedicated to promoting South Asian Children's Writers and Illustrators. She was made an Honorary Fellow at the Royal Society of Literature in 2024.

X: @childrensbkshop & @chitabds

Instagram: @childrensbookshoplondon & @chitabds

About our guest judge: Sharna Jackson

Sharna is a writer of books, games and scripts mostly about art, mystery and murder. She lives on a ship in Rotterdam and comes up with her best ideas in the shower or on a long morning walk. Sharna’s latest book, Nine Night Mystery, centres on one boy's birthday, one dead body and nine nights to solve the mystery.

Sharna's debut novel was High-Rise Mystery in which Nik and Norva solve a murder in their tower block during the hottest summer on record. It won numerous awards and accolades including Best Book for Younger Readers at the 2020 Waterstones Book Prize. In the sequel: Mic Drop, Nik and Norva investigate the death of an up-and-coming pop star TrojKat, who has fallen from the tower roof. Sharna’s third mystery story, The Good Turn, is a slightly spooky mystery in which a trio of young friends start their own scout troop in Luton. Sharna was also one of the writers of Saltsea Chronicles, an adventure game released on PS5 and Switch in late 2023. 

About our guest judge: Michael Mann

Michael Mann's prize-winning Ghostcloud was one of Waterstones Best Children's books in 2021 and featured in BookTrust’s 100 best books of 2022. The gripping sequel, Nightspark, came out in 2023. Michael has also won the East Sussex and Salford Children's Book award and has a story in the beautiful Faber Book of Bedtime Stories.

By day, he's a teacher, by night he's a dad, and he mostly writes when he should be sleeping. He owes the idea for Ghostcloud to his coal-mining grandad and a lifelong love of cloudspotting. He's half-Indian and passionate about diversity in children’s literature. He has a first-class degree in anthropology, lives in East London with his (very patient) partner and his (less patient) toddler, and can be found playing board games when he's not busy losing his wallet.