Blue Peter Book Awards 2018
The winners for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2018 have just been announced! The award for Best Story went to Cressida Cowell’s The Wizards of Once and the winner of the Best Book with Facts was Real-Life Mysteries by Susan Martineau and illustrator Vicky Barker. The awards were given on a special World Book Day edition of the show, when Judith Kerr was presented with a gold Blue Peter badge for her contribution to children’s literature.
The Blue Peter Book Awards, now in their 18th year, aim to guide children towards quality literature, encouraging them to read and establish a love of reading for life.
Blue Peter Best Story
The Wizards of Once
Cressida Cowell
Winner of the 2018 Blue Peter Awards - Best Story | One of
Our Books of the Year 2017 | A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month
October 2017 Best-selling Cressida Cowell launches her new
series with a title that will...
Featured in: 9+ readers | 7+ readers
Format: Hardback | Released 19/09/2017
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Wed Wabbit
Lissa Evans
Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2018 | Shortlisted
for the Costa Children's Book Award 2017 | Shortlisted for the 2018
Blue Peter Awards - Best Story Wed Wabbit is a tour de
force! Lissa Evans's hilarious, madcap adventure...
Featured in: 9+ readers | 11+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 04/01/2018
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The Island at the End of Everything
Kiran Millwood-Hargrave
One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | Shortlisted for the
2018 Blue Peter Awards - Best Story | Shortlisted for the Costa
Children's Book Award 2017 | Longlisted for the UKLA 2018 Book
Award | In a nutshell: beautifully...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 13+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 04/05/2017
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Blue Peter Best Book with Facts
Real-Life Mysteries
Susan Martineau
Winner of the 2018 Blue Peter Awards - Best Book with
Facts Have you ever wondered what exactly does go bump in
the night? From mysteries like Shackleton's ghostly companion to
the Loch Ness Monster and friends, read the amazing...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 9+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 01/09/2017
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Beyond the Sky: You and the Universe
Dara O'Briain
Shortlisted for the 2018 Blue Peter Awards - Best Book with
Facts We're off to space with Dara! All aboard the
laughter shuttle! A bonkers ride to space, launching now from your
fave comfy chair. Stop looking down at...
Featured in: 9+ readers | 11+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 01/01/1970
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Corpse Talk - Ground-Breaking Scientists
Adam Murphy, Lisa Murphy
Shortlisted for the 2018 Blue Peter Awards - Best Book with
Facts The ultimate history lesson as Adam and Lisa Murphy
dig up and interview the most incredible and dead brilliant
scientists from history, and find out about their extraordinary...
Featured in: 7+ readers | 9+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 07/09/2017
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Past Blue Peter Book Awards Winners
The Nowhere Emporium
Ross MacKenzie
Winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2016 - Best Story -
Winner of the Scottish Children's Book Awards 2015 8-11 age
category This sparkling fantasy adventure is a glorious
hymn to the powers of the imagination. Young Daniel Holmes first...
Featured in: 9+ readers | 7+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 19/03/2015
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Survivors
David Long
Winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2017 - Best Books with
Facts In a nutshell: jaw-dropping true stories;
survival against the odds | Proof that true stories can be
every bit as remarkable as the most fantastic fiction, David...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 9+ readers
Format: Hardback | Released 20/10/2016
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The Epic Book of Epicness
Adam Frost
Winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2016 - Best Book with
Facts Did you know that at Christmas time in Norway, you
should leave a bowl of porridge outside your door - otherwise
gnomes will play tricks on you? Or...
Featured in: 7+ readers | 5+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 10/09/2015
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The Silly Book of Side-Splitting Stuff
Andy Seed
Winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2015 - Best Book with
Facts Ever wanted to know what kind of animal an aye-aye
is? Or how much gravy the boot of a Mini Cooper Convertible can
hold? What about which...
Featured in: 7+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 08/05/2014
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The Spy Who Loved School Dinners
Pamela Butchart
Winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2015 - Best
Story Loaded with laughs and crazy capers, the brilliantly
bonkers second book from the author of Baby Aliens Got My Teacher!
Featured in: 7+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 03/07/2014
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Lost and Found
Oliver Jeffers
Winner of the Blue Peter Book Awards - Best Illustrated
book to read aloud. Celebrating the value of friendship,
this is an exquisitely illustrated picture book with a simple story
line. Opening his door and finding a penguin on it, the little...
Featured in: Baby and Toddler | 3+ readers
Format: Board book | Released 02/01/2014
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Frozen in Time
Ali Sparkes
Book of the Year in the 2010 Blue Peter Award and winner of
the 'Book I Couldn't Put Down' category Award. A
page-turning mystery-adventure with a pleasingly old-fashioned feel
as two children, frozen by cryonic suspension by their father in...
Featured in: 9+ readers | 11+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 06/06/2013
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Genius Ideas (Mostly)
Liz Pichon
Winner of the Blue Peter Book Awards 2013 - Best
Story The highs and lows of Tom's life are funnier and
more extreme than ever in this fourth wicked diary from the Roald
Dahl Funny Prize winning series.
Featured in: 7+ readers | 9+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 06/09/2012
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Dead Man's Cove: A Laura Marlin Mystery
Lauren St.John
Overall winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2011 and winner
of the Favourite Story Category. - A Lovereading4kids 'Great Read'
you may have missed 2011 selection - Shortlisted
for the Galaxy Children's Book of the Year Award 2011. ...
Featured in: 9+ readers | 7+ readers
Format: Paperback | Released 24/03/2011
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Blue Peter editor, Ewan Vinnicombe said: “It’s been another fantastic selection of titles for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2018. It was great to see the enthusiasm the children had for voting in our awards… Judith Kerr’s gold badge is very well deserved with her books as popular now with our audience as ever.”
Wizards, warriors, wabbits, weird worlds, long forgotten leper colonies and creepy things that go bump in the night take the top spots in the 2018 Blue Peter Book Awards shortlisted titles, fighting for a chance to win one of two prestigious awards: Best Story and Best Book with Facts.
The Blue Peter Book Awards 2018
The Shortlisted Titles are
For Best Story....
The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Millwood-Hargrave
Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans
The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell
And for Best Book with Facts....
Beyond the Sky: You and the Universe by Dara O'Briain
Real-Life Mysteries Can You Explain the Unexplained? by Susan Martineau
Corpse Talk - Ground-Breaking Scientists by Adam Murphy & Lisa Murphy
The six shortlisted titles were chosen by the judges, which this year were:
Ewan Vinnicombe - Editor, Blue Peter (non-voting chair)
Laura Dockrill - Poet and Darcy Burdock author
Greg James & Chris Smith - Drivetime DJs and Kid Normal authors
Amy McKay - School Librarian of the Year 2016
Blue Peter Book Awards judge Greg James said: “Chris and I love Blue Peter SO much so to be asked to judge their Book Award was a total dream. It was brilliant to lock ourselves away and get lost in the entries. It was an incredibly tough choice but we are confident we’ve chosen books that will inspire a new generation of young readers.”
The books were judged by more than 400 young Blue Peter viewers drawn from 12 schools across the UK, who decided the winners of the Blue Peter Book of the Year 2018 in each of the two categories: Best Story and Best Book with Facts.
Jo Law, literacy coordinator at Church Vale School, which took part in the judging, said: “It has been a challenge and a task that the children and I have taken very seriously. They have embraced every part of the job as judges and have enjoyed reading the books as part of a team during a weekly book club, they have been buzzing with conversation. Their reading stamina has improved greatly and their commitment and enthusiasm towards reading has been amazing, we are very proud of them all.”
To be eligible authors and illustrators must either be British nationals or residents at the time of entering. Books must be first published in the UK between 1 November 2016 and 31 October 2017.
The winning books were announced on World Book Day on Blue Peter on Thursday 1 March 2018, with the winning authors and illustrators also appearing on the special awards episode of the show.
You can keep up to date with the Awards @Booktrust and at www.booktrust.org.uk/blue-peter-book-awards
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