FCBG Children’s Book Awards 2024

Yesterday, I was delighted to be able to attend the Federation of Children’s Book Groups Children’s Book Awards 2024 Ceremony. This year, it was being held in Birmingham so I was up bright and early for a very exciting day out!

I hadn’t been to Birmingham for years and so was really grateful to one of the members of the Birmingham group who had not only written directions to follow from the station, but had also added in things of interest to look out for along the way! The famous bull, Ozzy, from the Commonwealth Games 2022, the lovely Piccadilly Arcade, the impressive Council House building and the domed Hall of Memory were all features of my mini guided tour as I made my way to the Novotel where the ceremony was being held.

Had the incredible library been open, I might never have made it to the ceremony, but that was a treat I had to save for later. The gilded bronze statue, known as the ‘Golden Boys’ honours Matthew Boulton, James Watt and William Murdoch, shown studying steam engine plans.  Together, these three revolutionised the steam engine. Also on my route was the Black Sabbath bench, a tribute to this Birmingham metal band, located on Broad Street, above the bridge on Canal Street, also named after the band!

At the Novotel, excitement was mounting as the dedicated and hard working team of FCBG members, led by Sarah Stuffins, were putting the finishing touches to preparations for the ceremony. Always a lovely occasion, the Children’s Book Awards ceremony keeps children- the voters- at its heart as members from each of the testing groups are invited to attend the occasion. Each child arrives to find a bag of goodies ready for them-including a Fed Ted- and that they will be sitting at a table with one of the shortlisted authors or illustrators! There are not many events which offer that!

As the guests all started to arrive, there was a wonderful atmosphere as everyone circulated and asked for their books to be signed. There was so much excitement from young (and somewhat older!) readers and so much excited book-ish chat, proving that these awards really do encourage reading for pleasure and that there are plenty of young readers who enjoy a great story.

Once everyone had eaten a delicious lunch, the ceremony was ready to begin and Korky, Winnie the Witch and Wilbur treated us to much wand waving and merriment, including a masterclass in how to draw Winnie. Every child had a numbered ticket in their goodie bag and one won a signed book and another won the picture. Sadly, adults weren’t included!

Each shortlisted author was then presented with a portfolio of work, full of pictures and writing from the children who voted for their books. These are so special and each author was genuinely moved to see the contributions these contain. Sadly, Karen Obuhanych, Philip Reeve, Sarah McIntyre, Michael Rosen and Simon Fox were not able to attend, but they sent messages which were shared at this time.

And then, the winner of each category was announced. Rob Biddulph won the Books for Younger Children’s category with ‘Gigantic’, Thomas Flintham won the Books for Younger Readers’ category with ‘Press Start! Game On, Super Rabbit Boy!’ and the Books for Older Readers’ category was won by ‘The Final Year’, written by Matt Goodfellow and illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton. Although everyone had their favourites that they were rooting for, the results were received with great delight and much cheering.

As with each category, the overall winner was announced by children from one of the FCBG groups- another thing which is special to this award! Overall Winner of the Children’s Book Award 2024 was ‘Press Start! Game On, Super Rabbit Boy! ‘ by Thomas Flintham.

It was a fabulous occasion, greatly enjoyed by everyone! The Federation of Children’s Book Groups Children’s Book Awards is absolutely about children having a voice and genuinely reflects their interests and reading tastes. Huge congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and illustrators - and their publishers- and a huge well done to those involved in the organisation of the event!

This has nothing to do with the awards, but on the way home, I visited the wonderful Birmingham Library and then the ‘Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts and Crafts Movement' at The Gas Hall, part of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. The perfect way to end the day!

You can read about CBA2023 here and CBA2022 here.

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!