Bishops Stortford Book award 2012

I am so thrilled to have won the third annual Bishop’s Stortford Picture Book Award. It's a huge honour as The Lonely Beast was up against some of my favourite illustrators and Authors.

The list included The Highway Rat written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler; The Totally Terrifying Three written by Hiawyn Oram and illustrated by David Melling; Sometimes written and illustrated by Rebecca Elliott; Good Little Wolf written and illustrated by Nadia Shireen; Lonely Beast written and illustrated by Chris Judge; King Jack and the Dragon written by Helen Oxenbury and illustrated by Peter Bently; The Tiger Skin Rug written by Gerald Rose; Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey written and illustrated by Mini Grey.

The Award ceremony was attended by an audience of over 150 children and their teachers who were involved in the voting process and I recieved a lovely trophy for the honour.

 Local teacher and illustrator Simon Bailey produced this fantastic watercolour featuring nearly 100 Beasts hanging out in the grounds of the school where it will be hung on the walls of the sports hall.


One of the biggest thrills was getting to spend the day with illustrator Axel Scheffler (The Gruffalo etc!) and discussing nerdy illustration techniques as well as Nadia Shireen who's debut book is the amazing The Good Little Wolf.


Thanks to Sarah from Andersen Press for taking care of me during the day (I would have got very lost without her!)


You can read more about it here.