Watt, Robinson and Courtauld win at Sainsbury's Children's Book Awards

Titles from Usborne, Bloomsbury and Macmillan Children’s Books are the winners of the first Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards.
 
The That’s Not My Piglet board book, written by Fiona Watt and illustrated by Rachel Wells (Usborne) was chosen as the winner of the baby and toddler category, and There’s a Lion in my Cornflakes, from author Michelle Robinson and illustrator Jim Field, picked up the award for best picture book.
 
In the “fiction for age 5-9 years” category, the winner was Buckle and Squash and the Monstrous Moat Dragon by Sarah Courtauld (Macmillan Children’s Books).
 
The judging panel, chaired by Louise Ward, Sainsbury’s children’s book buyer, also included author Phil Earle and illustrator Sarah McIntyre.
 
Earle said there was “such talent in the books submitted”, while McIntyre said: “Awards such as this one highlight the fact that children’s books aren’t just about nostalgia, but that Britain is producing exciting new stories all the time. I’m very proud to be part of this.”
 
The judges also listed two books as runners up in each category. For the baby and toddler award, the runners upwere Alphaprints: 123 by Roger Priddy (Priddy Books) and Flip Flap Safari by Axel Scheffler (Nosy Crow).
 
The runners up in picture books were Train! by Judi Abbot (Little Tiger) and Hector and the Big Bad Knight by Alex T. Smith (Scholastic), and in fiction were Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pasti (Walker Books) and The Royal Babysitters by Clementine Beauvais (Bloomsbury).
 
The winning author in each category will receive a £1,000 prize.
 
The three winning books and the six runners up will go on sale in Sainsbury’s stories today, priced at £3.00.