About the Scottish Children's Book Awards

 

History

The Scottish Children’s Book Awards (formerly Royal Mail Awards) were originally set up by the Scottish Arts Council in 1999 and are now run by Scottish Book Trust. The awards allow children and young people across Scotland to vote for their favourite children’s books across three categories:

Bookbug Readers (0-7 years)

Younger Readers (8-11 years)

Older Readers (12-16 years)


Books published in these categories between 1st April 2010 and March 31st 2011 by authors and illustrators resident in Scotland are eligible for the 2011 awards.

The winners of the awards are decided entirely by children and young people in schools and libraries across Scotland, reading, discussing, reviewing and voting for their favourite books. In 2010, over 40,000 young voters registered to take part from all of Scotland’s 32 local authorities.


Scottish Book Trust is seeking to encourage teachers, librarians and booksellers to set up reading groups of children in each age group category in schools, libraries and bookshops across Scotland. The groups will read the shortlisted titles between the shortlist announcement on 6th September 2011 and the voting deadline on Friday 27 January 2012, and will be able to vote online for their favourite books. They can also enter the review competition for the best reviews of shortlisted titles to win author visits for their school and book tokens for themselves.

The winners of both the awards and the review competition will be announced at a special awards ceremony in Edinburgh on Tuesday 23 February 2012.

Any school, library or bookshop in Scotland can take part in judging the awards. If you would like to get involved, click here to register.

Key Facts about the 2010 Awards

  • Over 17,000 children and young people voted for their favourite book
  • Children and young people from all 32 Scottish Local Authorities were involved in the awards
  • Nearly 1,000 copies of accessible versions of the shortlisted titles were distributed to young judges across Scotland by the RNIB and CALL
  • Over 850 reviews were submitted for the review competition

 

Why get involved?

The Scottish Children’s Book Awards promote contemporary Scottish children’s and young adult book to children across Scotland. They are a fantastic opportunity to find out about new and established authors and illustrators living and working in Scotland.

Scottish Book Trust makes it easy for teachers, librarians and book group leaders to inspire their children to read books written for them, in the same country they live in.

We do this by:

  • Providing handy learning resources containing activities and tasks to draw in children
  • Providing videos of authors and illustrators reading their books (in the Bookbug Readers category) or read excerpts from their work
  • Providing videos with a short Q & A with the authors and illustrators talking about their work
  • Giving away 30 sets in each age category to help you get started (register your class or group by Friday 16th September to be entered into the draw)

 

Sponsors


The Scottish Children’s Book Awards are managed by Scottish Book Trust in partnership with Creative Scotland, and supported by the Times Educational Supplement Scotland, Waterstone’s and Scotia Books.

Creative Scotland Waterstone's
  TESS