Southern Schools Book Award

Anne Cassidy, Phil Earle and Sally Nichols

The 2014 Southern Schools Book Award came to an exciting conclusion at Roedean School in Brighton last Friday evening when the Award ceremony took place.  Mr Smith and Mrs Duck accompanied the Year 9 reading group who have been reading and discussing the five short-listed books since last September.  

The SSBA is now in its tenth year and has grown to include 35 schools in Sussex, Kent and Surrey.  There were 350 students with librarians and teachers from across the region in Roedean's theatre to see who won this year's prestigious award. 
 
Kevin Brooks, last year's winner with 'Bunker Diary', hosted the evening.  The short-listed authors were Anne Cassidy 'Finding Jennifer Jones', Phil Earle 'Heroic', Nick Lake 'Hostage Three', Sophie McKenzie 'Split Second' and Sally Nichols 'Close Your Pretty Eyes.   


This year’s winner was ‘Split Second’ by Sophie McKenzie and the runner-up was Nick Lake’s ‘Hostage Three’.  One of the highlights of the evening is being able to see the authors talking about their writing and then, after the presentation, having the opportunity to meet them personally at the book signing.  It was unfortunate this year that Nick Lake was unable to attend due to a prior work commitment and, at the last moment,  Sophie McKenzie was unable to be there because of illness in her family.  Both authors provided video clips giving their thanks and appreciation for being included in the Award. 

In addition to these authors, Helen Watts, author of ‘One Day in Oradour’, received a special award to mark the tenth anniversary of the SSBA and she spoke movingly about her book which describes a true incident in France during World War II.

All the students were given a book voucher to spend on the night, or at a later date.  Long queues for the authors showed students' enthusiasm for the books they have read, and for the love of reading the awards is here to celebrate.