SALFORD HOSTS CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD FOR 19TH YEAR

Around 100 local school children met some of the UK's most popular authors at a long-awaited book award on June 29th.

After a two-year break from the physical award ceremony due to the pandemic, the 19th Salford Children's Book Award took place at the University of Salford's New Adelphi Building.  In 2020 the ceremony was cancelled and the winner announced online, and in 2021 the Award took place entirely online.

Groups of 11-14-year-olds from eight schools across Salford met their literary icons and heard them talk about their work and creative writing processes, along with host, author and comedian, James Campbell.

This year's shortlist was: Tamarind & The Star of Ishta by Jasbinder Bilan, Boy, Everywhere by A.M. Dassu, When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten, Eating Chips With Monkey by Mark Lowery and The Island That Didn't Exist by Joe Wilson.

Pupils representing Salford high schools reviewed and discussed the books with the authors and host during a two-hour event before revealing this year's winner, which is When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten.

Kereen could not attend in person but live linked with the children to give her thanks, saying:

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'When I sat down to write Mangoes, I really just wanted to write a story about my hometown. Sycamore is based on where I was born, and I thought it would make a great backdrop for an adventure story! I wanted to write about my hometown, and also about friendship. I really just wanted to write a story that I would have wanted to read when I was younger, and the fact that Salford pupils enjoyed it so much and voted it as your winner means the absolute world to me. It's the encouragement every writer needs to continue writing. I'm so sorry that I couldn't be there but I'm so, so grateful!'

The Salford Children's Book Award, which is run by Salford Schools' Library Service, is designed to encourage older children across Salford to read a wide range of books and authors, to promote that reading is fun and enhance literacy development.

Five outstanding books were shortlisted by the school libraries team and sent to participating schools to read over the course of a few months. At the end of this period, students voted for their favourite titles from the selection.

Chris Farey, Head of Libraries at Salford Community Leisure, said:

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"We are delighted to be able to run the book award event again. The libraries team have worked tirelessly through the pandemic providing the usual service to schools and young people and we are delighted that the physical award event can finally go ahead. It's a very popular event in the calendar and hugely beneficial to pupils and schools from all around the city. For 19 years, Salford Schools' Library Service has been encouraging pupils in Salford High Schools to love reading through the Salford Children's Book Award, and we are continually looking to inspire and engage Salford's young people by providing in our libraries the most diverse range of reading materials possible, as it is widely understood that reading for pleasure can really enhance learning and well-being, and greatly improve future prospects.'

Since 2003, Salford Community Leisure's Children's Book Award has distributed over 3,000 books to schools across the City, has generated over 2,000 votes and has awarded 19 different authors since the start.