Hood triumphs at UKLA awards for second year in row

Morag Hood has triumphed at the UKLA Book Awards for the second year in a row with I am Bat (Two Hoots).

The unique UKLA Book Awards are the only awards to be judged entirely by teachers who are looking for texts that can “enhance all aspects of literacy learning”.  

Hood, who won the 3-6 category last year with Colin & Lee: Carrot and Pea (Two Hoots), said: "I am so honoured that I Am Bat has been chosen as the winner, and to win for the second time is just incredible! What better accolade than from the teachers who know and understand children the most. It fills me with joy to know that my little bat is being used in classrooms and, I hope, helping to encourage a life-long love of reading."  

Costa prize winner The Explorer (Bloomsbury) by Katherine Rundell took the 7-11 category. The verse novel Long Way Down (Faber) by Jason Reynolds which was also shortlisted for this year’s Carnegie Medal, won the 12-16 category.

After intense debate, the judges decided to award a Highly Commended in each of the three age categories to books that were "very different but equally valuable and too good not to be specially recognised". 

The Newbery Medal winning After the Fall (Andersen Press) by Dan Santat has been Highly Commended in the 3-6 category with S E Durrant’s Running On Empty (Nosy Crow) in the 7-11 and Carnegie medal winning Elizabeth Acevado’s verse novel The Poet X (Egmont, Electric Monkey) in the 12-16. 

The 2019 awards were presented at a special ceremony tonight (Friday 12th July) at the UKLA International Conference, Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University. 

Tracy Parvin, President of UKLA said: "We know that literature broadens the reader’s experience and understanding of the world, it also enables children to walk in the shoes of others and to question and explore infinite possibilities. Reading should therefore have a central place in classrooms and in all educational contexts. Children need access to a rich range of high quality literature and our awards over the past ten years have highlighted some of the very best literature available to children and young people in the UK."