Last week a group of enthusiastic readers travelled down to the City of London Boys School to attend the annual Trinity Schools Book Awards Ceremony. This year’s theme was ‘Dreams and Nightmares,’ and students had to vote for their favourite authors from a shortlisted selection, as well as submit a written review or creative response to one of the books.
Eleven students from Junior to Second Year had been specially chosen to attend the ceremony after submitting particularly impressive book reviews or responses.
The evening started off with a rapid-fire Q&A with the shortlisted authors, which provided a lot of laughter and fun as authors only had 30 seconds to answer before being abruptly stopped by a student ringing a bell!
Students were later able to enjoy a few of the creative responses created by other students, with a highlight being a re-enactment of a scene from the horror title When Ghosts Call us Home (Katya De Bercerra). The ceremony then reached its peak when the authors got crowned:
The students really enjoyed the winners’ speeches and getting to know what inspired them to start writing, with author David Farr leaving them with some inspiring words stating, “How wonderful that a story inspired by my family can resonate with such a broad and brilliant group of young readers. This is why reading matters.”
As the evening wound down, they were able to go and meet the authors, ask questions and get their own individual books signed. This proved to be one of the highlights of the evening, with J-bug Noah saying, “My favourite part was getting to know the authors and what inspired them to write all these amazing books.”
Commenting on the trip Assistant Librarian Mx Peers said, “The trip was a fantastic success, and the boys were buzzing to see all the authors whose words and worlds have captivated them all year. The TSBA is a fantastic vessel to encourage students to step out of their literary comfort zone, and this year has continued that trend. It’s always a thrill to get to the venue and realise that you’re in the room with some of the best children’s authors in the world. Can’t wait till next year!”
Overall, the students had a wonderful time and left feeling inspired, with some even trying to guess the theme for the 2027 awards shortlist on the train journey home!
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