Awards Ceremony for the Inaugural York Book Award

On Friday 25 March, St Peter's School hosted the award ceremony of the inaugural York Book Award in the Shepherd Hall. 

The York Book Award, launched by librarians at St Peter’s School, York and All Saints RC School, aims to advocate for the importance of school librarians in their schools and communities by celebrating books and the joy of reading. 

In this first year of the new award, pupils from Year 7 and 8 from across the city have been reading the shortlisted books, voting for their favourites and have been inspired to make their own creative interpretations of the books. 73 children from seven different schools participated in this year's York Book Awards by writing book reviews, and 47 different creative entries were submitted.

In a ceremony hosted by the Lady Mayoress of York, Joy Cullwick, pupils from All Saints RC School, Archbishop Holgate's School, Dixons Cottingley Academy, Manor CE Academy and Vale of York Academy joined St Peter's pupils in the Shepherd Hall, and The Mount School joined us live on Zoom. The pupils had the opportunity to hear from the shortlisted authors, who attended the ceremony virtually.

The Lady Mayoress announced that the winning book, voted for by the pupils themselves, was Boy, Everywhere by AM Dassu. Our congratulations to AM Dassu, and to all the shortlisted authors - Phil Earle, Elle McNicoll, Tom Palmer, Nicola Penfold and Jamie Russell in what was a very close vote!

Prizes were also awarded to the pupils for their book reviews and creative entries. The Creative Prize winner is Clara from All Saints RC School for her SkyWake: Invasion-inspired diorama, and the Review Prize winner is Isla from The Mount School, for her review of Where the World Turns Wild.

The pupils' creative entries and reviews were on show in the foyer of St Peter's 8-13, and will be transferred to York Explore Library to be displayed in the children's section.

Jeremy Walker, Head Master of St Peter's School, York, said: "It was wonderful to have so many pupils from schools across York taking part in this excellent initiative.  The joy of reading is clearly thriving and my thanks go to all those involved."