Pearson and Biddulph triumph at 2022 Lollies

The winners of the Laugh Out Loud Awards, known as “The Lollies”, have been announced featuring the likes of Jenny Pearson and Rob Biddulph. 

The prizes, created by Scholastic UK to celebrate the funniest children’s books, are now in their fifth year and back from a hiatus owing to lockdown in 2021.  

Hachette Children’s Group (HCG) secured two out of the three winning books including the prize for the Best Laugh Out Loud Picture Book was 101 Bums by Sam Harper and Chris Jevons (Hodder Children’s Books). It won from a shortlist featuring I’m NOT a MOUSE! by Evgenia Golubeva (Child’s Play), Never Show a T-Rex a Book by Rashmi Sirdeshpande and Diane Ewen (Puffin) and Octopus Shocktopus! by Peter Bently and Steven Lenton (Nosy Crow). 

The second award, Best Laugh Out Loud Book for six to eight-year-olds, also went to a HCG title, Cats React to Science Facts by Izzi Howell (Wayland). She beat off competition from Sam Wu is NOT Afraid of the Dark by Katie and Kevin Tsang and Nathan Reed (Egmont), Anisha, Accidental Detective: School’s Cancelled by Serena Patel and Emma McCann (Puffin) and Wigglesbottom Primary: Break-Time Bunnies by Pamela Butchart (Nosy Crow). 

Finally, Pearson and Biddulph were crowned winners of the Best Laugh Out Loud Book for nine to 13-year-olds with The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates (Usborne). Shortlisted books had included Kay’s Anatomy by Adam Kay and Henry Paker (Puffin), Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties by Humza Arshad, Henry White and Aleksei Bitskoff (Puffin) and Zombierella: Fairy Tales Gone Bad by Joseph Coelho and Freya Hartas (Walker Books). 

The winners were selected from shortlists drawn up by a panel of judges including children’s novelist, poet, former children’s laureate and head judge Michael Rosen along with actor and writer Stephen Mangan and teachers Maaria Khan and Ceridwen Eccles.  

There was a virtual ceremony held on 17th February with schools tuning to watch via Scholastic’s Schools Live platform, hosted by presenter Katie Thistleton featuring Alesha Dixon, and the judges, with a special performance by Michael Rosen and Simon James Green. 

The awards, where the winners are decided by children’s votes alone, are run via Scholastic’s schools channels and reach millions of children, according to organisers.