Katherine Rundell, OLA visitor, shortlisted for Blue Peter Award

Rooftoppers, launched at OLA on World Book Day 2013, has been shortlisted for the Blue Peter 2014 Best Story Award. We wish Oxford-based author, Katherine Rundell the very best of luck.

Rooftoppers is one of three books on the shortlist and the winner will be announced live on Blue Peter’s World Book Day edition on 6 March 2014, during which judge Marcus Sedgwick, who will be visiting OLA the very next day, will present the winners with their Awards.

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BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS 2014 – shortlists
Best Story
Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve, illustrated by Sarah McIntyre
Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
Whale Boy by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Joe McLaren
Best Book with Facts
Marvellous Maths by Jonathan Litton, illustrated by Thomas Flintham
Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders: World War II by Tony Robinson, illustrated by Del Thorpe
The World in Infographics: Animal Kingdom by Jon Richards, illustrated by Ed Simkins

More than 200 children from 10 schools across the UK will now read the six shortlisted books and vote for their favourites in each category. The two winning books will be announced live on the Blue Peter programme scheduled for World Book Day on 6 March 2014, during which judge Marcus Sedgwick will present the winners with their Awards.

THE COSTA BOOK AWARDS
The Costa Book Awards (originally launched as the Whitbread Book Awards in 1971) celebrate books published in the last year over five categories; First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book by UK and Ireland resident authors.
Category winners each receive £5,000, and will be announced on 6th January. An overall winner is decided from these five winners, who will receive the £30,000 Costa Book of the Year 2013 Award on 28th January 2014.
The 2013 Costa Children’s Book Award shortlist:
Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door by Ross Montgomery
The Hanged Man Rises by Sarah Naughton
Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
More information about the full shortlist.

STAN LEE EXCELSIOR AWARD
This book award is for graphic novels and manga - where kids aged 11-16 choose the winner by rating each book as they read it
The 2014 shortlist:
Indestructible Hulk: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. by Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu (Marvel)
Quantum and Woody: The World’s Worst Superhero Team by James Asmus and Tom Fowler (Valiant)
The Judas Coin by Walter Simonson (DC)
Aliens: Inhuman Condition by John Layman and Sam Kieth (Dark Horse)
Earth 2: The Gathering by James Robinson and Nicola Scott (DC)
Sherlock Bones (Volume 1) by Yuma Ando and Yuki Sato (Kodansha)
Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z by Rick Remender and John Romita Jr. (Marvel)
The Halloween Legion by Martin Powell and Thomas Boatwright (Dark Horse)
The Awards Ceremony will be in July 2014.
More information

Kids' Lit Quiz – the sport of reading!

OLA teams from Years 6 and 7 took part in the Oxfordshire and Berkshire heat of the international Kids’ Lit Quiz (KLQ) in Oxford.

The teams worked hard to answer 10 rounds of 10 questions on subjects as diverse as Foxes and Characters from Legend. None of the themes or questions was known in advance, and there was serious concentration and quiet conferring when the questions were being read out.

The event was opened by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, with the Chairman of Oxfordshire County Council and the Mayor of Wallingford also present for the whole quiz. 10 children’s authors also played the quiz (though their scores didn’t count of course!). Although OLA didn’t win, they played with zeal; over 40 school teams took part. The winning team plays against the other regional winners in the KLQ National Final in London this week.

Well done to our team members for their enthusiasm – when it comes to reading , everyone’s a winner!