Books / Children's Books
Bristol Teen Book Award hands out inaugural prizes
The brainchild of the Bristol School Library association, The Bristol Teen Book Award is an exciting new book prize that celebrates diversity and minority voices in teen literature.
Six books were chosen for the inaugural shortlist: The Harder They Fall, by Bali Rai, I Have No Secrets, by Penny Joelson, Notes on my family, by Emily Critchley, I Am Thunder, by Muhammad Khan, Out of Heart, by Irfan Master and Kaleidoscope Song, by Fox Benwell.
Pupils from across Bristol enjoyed book-related activities and workshops before the prize-giving
Sixteen schools from in and around Bristol took part, encouraging year nine students and above to read all the books on the shortlist and to vote for their favourite. The award event itself was planned and hosted by Bristol Central Library with input from pupils of Bristol Cathedral Choir School.
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Students from all over the city were able to come together for an afternoon of writing-related activities, workshops with the authors and, as suggested by the student planning team, “lots of competitions and prizes!”
Five of the shortlisted authors were also able to attend and students were given the opportunity to mingle and talk to them during activities. This is part of what made the Teen Book Award so special.
Five of the Bristol Teen Book Award shortlisted writers met pupils and led workshops at the event
The importance of events such as The Bristol Teen Book Award, which celebrate the voices that are rarely featured in teen literature, is evident from the student comments. To pick just a few, when asked how the event made them feel, they said: “Inspired to write”, “Part of Something”, “Interested, excited, special”, and perhaps most powerfully, “Heard”.
After writing workshops with the authors and some light refreshments, all event attendees gathered in the beautiful arched Reading Room of the library for a discussion panel chaired by Sharmaine Lovegrove, head of Hachette publishing imprint, Dialogue Books.
Pre-prepared questions led to an informative and friendly discussion with the authors, that ranged from the power of words on the individual, the importance of tackling real-life issues in teen books, to how it feels to have you work edited, “like chopping your child’s arm off”, and what your Harry Potter Patronus would be (answers included a turtle, cat, puma, hare, golden eagle and fox).
Pupils from 16 Bristol schools voted for their favourite book on the shortlist
Prizes were then given out to the student winners of the earlier activities, before the winner of the inaugural Bristol Teen Book Award was announced: Penny Joelson’s I Have No Secrets.
Penny said that she was “thrilled” to be honoured with the inaugural award.
She said: “It feels very special to me that a book with a main character who has severe cerebral palsy and is unable to communicate has made such an impression on young people. It was fabulous to see Year 9-11 students so engaged in reading and I was so impressed with the writing my group of students did in a twenty-minute workshop. I had a really lovely time and it was great to meet the other authors too!”
The winner, Penny Joelson, was announced in the Central Library’s Reading Room
One of the founders of the award, Roz Keir, said: “We would like to say a huge thanks to the sponsors who made the Bristol Teen Book Awards possible: Osborne Clarke, Clifton College and the School Library Association, and also to Bristol Central Library, Bristol Cathedral Choir School, all the authors, students and teachers who attended, and all of the schools who took part.”
It will be fascinating to see how this enterprising initiative develops in the next few years and the effect it will have on supporting and encouraging new writers.
Read more: Borderlines poetry project announced
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