SalfordOnline

Salford kids meet favourite authors at awards ceremony - more video footage of this event will follow shortly

Enthusiastic children from 15 Salford schools packed into the Lowry Centre today, to support and meet their favourite authors at the Salford Children's Book Award (SCBA) ceremony.

SCBA -in its seventh year- allows 11-14 year olds the opportunity to read six new novels, before voting for their favourite.

The scheme's purpose is to to introduce up to 200 secondary school pupils to a range of books and authors, and to promote reading for the sheer fun of it.

Winning author was Sally Nicholls, with her debut novel 'Ways to live forever'. This is the story of an 11-year-old boy, Sam, who's dying of leukaemia, but who is determined to find out as much as he can about life before he dies. He wants to know what its like to kiss a girl, he wants facts on UFOs and ghosts, and he wants to experience walking up the down-escalator!

Miss Nicholls said she wished that there had been a "completely child focused" and "awesome" book scheme like this one when she was at school.

On attending the ceremony and meeting her young fans, she said: "I've had a really good time today, thank you so much to Salford inviting me."

Books shortlisted for the award are chosen from a list of titles nominated by high school pupils and librarians, and members of Salford Libraries and Information Services Children's Team.

All selected books must have been been published in the United Kingdom between January and December the previous year, be an excellent stand-alone read, and have been written by authors living in the UK.

The award is supported by Salford Schools' Library Service. School-based reading groups are run by high school librarians and/or members of the high school English department during the first term of the school year.

Got a favourite novel of the last year? Let us know with a comment below.

Comment by bethan2010  31st January 2010 So Did I!

Comment by Guest  29th January 2010 I thought Paul cookson was halarious!

Comment by Guest  29th January 2010 hi i would just like to say well done to sally nicholls for winning the award! Thank-you mrs parker, librarian of st. patricks rc high school for telling me about scba. it was very exiting when i got to open the gold envelope and got to announce the winner of scba 09 it is an experiance i will never forget! Bethan st. patricks rc high school.

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