The Year 6 children Weald Book Award group attended the eagerly anticipated Finals Evening on Tuesday. Since commencing the project in October, the children have been set the challenge of reading six new titles and participating in a number of directed tasks based upon their reading material. During the evening, we were able to listen to four of the six authors (Jessica Scott-Whyte, Kirsty Applebaum, Thomas Leeds and Lucy Hope) speaking in person; the other two (Jennifer Killick and Kieran Larwood) joined via Zoom.
The following children were announced as competition winners, each receiving a certificate for their efforts:
Anna - Photo, Martha - Front Cover Design, Lexi - Poem, Aaron - Book Character, Olivia A - Letter.
We were excited to learn that 'Jayben and the Golden Torch' by Thomas Leeds was voted as this year's overall winner. Thomas inspired us all with his extraordinary life story; as a young adult, he suffered a serious brain injury in an accident, which resulted in him losing all of his memory. This also left him with epilepsy and he had to learn how to read and write again. Thomas wanted to write an adventure narrative in which the main character has a hidden disability and the story of Jayben is based on his own life experiences. His book is a story of hope and courage and his talk concluded with the key message, 'If something is not impossible, then you can do it!'
Congratulations to the following children for their commitment to the project throughout the year:
South Africa: Olivia A, Martha B, Aaron G, Scarlett H, Rowan S, Niamh R
Japan: Lexi A, Flynn A, Elani du P, Anna E, Olivia L