Llama United wins trophy…sort of

Llama United got dolled up in its best posh gear to attend its first awards ceremony in Islington at the end April. When I say posh gear…I put on a jacket and wiped my shoes with a scratty tissue.

Llama United was on a shortlist of just six books, picked from over sixty, for the Islington Book Awards 2018. Islington is a borough of London, for those of you who don’t travel.

The awards were held at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, just two days after West Ham were thrashed 4-1 there, so I was thrilled. However, I choked back the tears and got on with it.

 

 

Loads of local schools were in attendance, bringing along over 300 children to the famous stadium, to hear about the books of the four authors in attendance. Two authors couldn’t make it as they live in the United States. I came down from Leeds, so that seemed like a poor excuse.

 

 

Here’s the shortlist of the six finalists:

 

The winner was the brilliant graphic novel Evil Emperor Penguins Strike Back by Laura Ellen Anderson who also pens the Amelia Fang series, you might have heard of them.

Llama United was given a very nice runners-up trophy and I got to meet and chat with loads of children, as well as sign autographs on all sorts of unusual scraps of paper, like a dinner money slip.

 

 

So a big thanks to all the wonderful staff at Islington Education Library service, who do a fantastic and inspiring job getting children to read more books of all shapes, sizes and flavours. Thank you for inviting me it was a real privilege to be there.

It was also great to meet fellow authors Peter Bunzl, Helen Peters and Laura Ellen Anderson. Check out all their books.