Children to vote on their favourites for Brilliant Book Award 2023
Thousands of children from Lancashire primary schools are set to vote for their favourite book thanks to Lancashire County Council's School Library Service.
The exciting initiative, called the Brilliant Book Award, will see children across 120 primary schools sharing stories and voting for their favourite book this spring.
The winning book will be chosen by the children in March and unveiled in primary schools in May this year.
The Brilliant Book Award has been running for four years, with its first face to face launch since the pandemic taking place on Thursday 12 January at Brockholes Visitor Centre.
Over 100 people attended the event, along with best-selling author and illustrator Rob Biddulph and County Councillors Cosima Towneley, cabinet member for children and families, Jane Rear, cabinet member for education and skills, and Lancashire County Councillor Alan Cullens, lead member for community and cultural services.
The Brilliant Book Award, developed by Lancashire County Council's School Library Service, is aimed at nurturing a love of reading and celebrating recently published stories for children aged between six and seven years.
Best-selling children's author and illustrator Rob Biddulph who attended the launch has written 12 picture books, created multiple activity books and also penned the Peanut Jones novels for older readers.
Rob, who has worked for the NME and the Observer Magazine and whose first picture book, Blown Away, was the second picture book ever to win the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in 2015, said: "It was a wonderful experience to see so much interest in reading at the launch of this year's Brilliant Book Awards. I was thrilled to be at this event, and I really hope it will open up a world of exciting reading for children and young people across Lancashire."
County Councillor Alan Cullens, Lancashire County Council's lead member for community and cultural services, said: "The Brilliant Book Award 2023 is a fantastic initiative, and I'm very pleased that it is running again this year. It's a wonderful way of helping to drive up high standards of literacy and build a love of reading among children across Lancashire."