Child Friendly Warwickshire

The annual award is hosted by Warwickshire Schools Libraries Services (WSLS) with the objective of encouraging more students to enjoy reading for pleasure through school and library settings.  

The award is an autumn term initiative that takes place between September to December each year, with an exciting reading list chosen by the experienced WSLS team alongside valuable input from several secondary school librarians. The students are then empowered to select the final shortlist of books nominated for the award by taking part in Speed Shortlisting events throughout autumn term.  

The shortlist of books this year included:  

• Happy Head by Josh Silver 

• Promise Boys by Nick Brooks 

• Tag, You're Dead by Kathryn Foxfield 

• With Fire in their Blood by Kat Delacorte 

To participate, the students were encouraged to read all four books from the shortlist and to vote for their favourite book as the winner, using the criteria that the book must be ‘a page-turner that pupils would highly recommend to others’.  

The initiative culminated in a virtual award ceremony on the 12 December, where students from secondary schools across Warwickshire attended to find out which author was pronounced the winner as voted for by their cohort.  

All four of the authors attended the virtual event to provide inspiration and engaging conversations about the shortlisted books, as well as discuss what it’s like to be in the publishing industry. 

Cllr Yousef Dahmash, Portfolio Holder for Customer and Transformation, said: 

“The Warwickshire Teen Book Award is a great way to empower secondary school students to discover the many benefits of reading, as well as help them to develop in confidence and improve self-esteem. Engaging with the written word is a great way to help young people develop their communications skills, encourage insightful discussions, and connect with each other especially during their teenage years.  

 

“I would like to thank the authors for their participation in this initiative, and our Schools Library Service which is dedicated to supporting this journey of self-development. The service can also offer great professional advice and guidance to help any schools that would like to further enrich the education of their students.” 

Warwickshire Schools Library Service organised and hosted the award and are grateful to receive support from Warwickshire Libraries Reading and Learning team, the shortlisted authors and publishers, and Warwick Books. The shortlisted books are all available to borrow from Warwickshire Libraries. 

WSLS services are available to support schools and education settings through a wide range of reading and curriculum resources, awards, initiatives, training and more that will engage children and young people and help foster a love or reading. To find out more about the WSLS, visit https://sls.warwickshire.gov.uk   

If your school would like to take part in the Teen Book Award next year, please email WSLS at schoolslibraryservice@warwickshire.gov.uk or phone 01926 413461.  

To sign-up to the WSLS newsletter, visit https://sls.warwickshire.gov.uk/subscribe