BBC Radio 1 broadcasters Greg James and Chris Smith win Ruth Rendell literacy award

BBC Radio 1 broadcasters Greg James and Chris Smith have won the 2024 Ruth Rendell literacy award for their work promoting reading in schools.

The award recognises those who have had the most significant influence on literacy in the UK over the past year. The DJs were announced as the winners at the ALCS Annual Awards ceremony, held at the Goldsmiths’ Centre in London on 22nd February.

James and Smith were nominated for their work profiling the National Literacy Trust and Penguin Random House UK’s Libraries for Primaries campaign, which aims to help transform underinvested primary school libraries in the UK. The pair also visited schools throughout the country to "inspire a love of reading and writing" among children. "We love visiting schools and meeting our readers, and hopefully this incredible honour will help get the message out there that every primary school should have a library," the pair said.

The award was judged by chief executive at the National Literacy Trust Jonathan Douglas, a screenwriter and non-executive director at ALCS Di Redmond, school librarian Lorraine Gill and previous winner of the Ruth Rendell Award Tom Palmer. 

Laura Mucha, a poet and the author-in-residence in the Department of Public Health & Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, was announced as runner-up for her poetry workshops and training sessions in schools. “Laura’s sensitivity is extraordinary, and she is deeply committed to what she is doing," the judges commented. "Thinking about the vulnerability of young people’s mental health at the moment, her work is so important.”

Douglas added: “I am thrilled to celebrate Chris Smith and Greg James as the winners of the Ruth Rendell Award this year. They have given their time, enthusiasm and passion to championing school libraries and consistently promoted the importance of reading for enjoyment with children across the country. At the National Literacy Trust, we know that reading for pleasure can have a real impact on a child’s future, supporting their literacy skills, their wellbeing and their confidence, and Chris and Greg’s dedication has made such a difference to so many lives."

The award was launched in 2016 by ALCS and the National Literacy Trust in honour of crime author and literacy advocate Ruth Rendell, who passed away in 2015. Previous winners include Cressida Cowell, Dapo Adeola and Nigel Lungenmuss-Ward. This year’s shortlist also included Michael Morpurgo, Sharena Lee Satti, Richard O’Neill, Harry Heape and Ellie Crawshaw-Prince.