Davies wins Oscar’s First Book Prize

Benji Davies is the winner of this year’s Oscar’s First Book Prize, launched in 2013 by the Evening Standard, for The Storm Whale (Simon & Schuster Childrens Books).
 
Oscar’s First Book Prize was launched for books that children under five can pick up on their own. The prize is in December in memory of Oscar Ashton, the son of the newspaper’s city editor James Ashton. Oscar was three-and-a-half when he died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an undetected genetic heart condition that thickens the heart wall.
 
The Storm Whale is about a boy called Noi who befriends a whale. When Noi’s father realises how attached he is to the whale, he realises he needs to spend more time with him.

Davies received the  £5,000 award, which is sponsored by Waitrose, at an award ceremony in London last night (14th May).
 
The other books on the shortlist were Open Very Carefully, written by Nick Bromley and illustrated by Nicola O’Byrne (Nosy Crow), The Snatchabook by Helen Docherty, illustrated by Thomas Docherty (Alison Green Books), The Black Rabbit by Philippa Leathers (Walker Books) and Spaghetti with the Yeti by Adam and Charlotte Guillain, illustrated by Lee Wildish (Egmont).