KYBA ceremony 2010

Wednesday 28th April saw 135 eager teenagers from 15 secondary schools across Cornwall, 35 librarians and school staff, 1 author and 1 author’s husband crammed into the main lecture theatre at Tremough Campus waiting with bated breath to find out which book had won the 3rd Annual Kernow Youth Book Award (KYBA). But before the announcement, we celebrated all 6 books on the shortlist.
7 schools did presentations on their favourite book from the shortlist. These contained all sorts of gems, from dramatisations to animation, and even a song inspired by the Boy in the Dress. There then followed videos of authors unable to attend, and question and answer sessions, with Tim Bowler and George Higgins (husband of Chris Higgins).
Then after a short break, where 180 pasties and copious amounts of squash and tea were drunk, everyone returned to the lecture theatre and a hush descended as the results were announced … And the winner is … Kevin Brooks for Black Rabbit Summer. Unfortunately Kevin had succumbed to flu at the last minute so could not be with us, but undaunted by coming second, Tim Bowler jumped up and said that the award couldn’t have gone to a better writer. Tim was impressed that so many teenagers had read the shortlisted books and confidently expressed their informed opinions.


Keep an eye out for the shortlist for the 2011 award, to be announced September 2010.

Launching the Short List for KYBA 2010 on Saturday 19th September on St. Ives beach, representatives of the KYBA committee were joined several young judges and members of SLIC (School Librarians in Cornwall) and their school colleagues and families. This followed the success of the last two Kernow Youth Book Awards held in April at County Hall. The KYBA Team has been busy choosing the next short list from the many recommendations put forward by the young people of Cornwall.

It is another interesting line up with the following six titles in the running:- Bloodchild by Tim Bowler, Tales of Terror from the BLACK SHIP by Chris Priestley, A Perfect Ten by Chris Higgins who read an excerpt at the launch, Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks, Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd and The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams.

This unique award reflects the favourite books picked by young teenagers once the books are available in the shops, unlike other awards which are chosen before their release. All the books were published in 2008, chosen and read in 2009, with the award ceremony to take place in April 2010. All the authors and publishers concerned have now been contacted and all seem delighted to be included on the short list. They particularly like the concept of the youngsters being the judges.

Marion Bradley, Librarian at Mullion School, said, “Even more schools are hoping to take part in the judging this year. The school librarians across the county do a great job at promoting reading with the award certainly capturing pupils’ imaginations. Three of the short-listed authors are hoping to attend next April which the youngsters will be thrilled about as it will be more exciting than the video links of the past.”

Reading for next year's award

Over the weekend I read Poison Garden by Sarah Singleton. It is a great fantasy read about a boy who inherits a mysterious wooden box from his grandmother. As a condition of her will, he also becomes apprenticed to a chemist in London. It becomes apparent that his Grandmother was a member of an ancient guild, the Guild of Medical Herbalists. As one by one the members of the guild are murdered it becomes a race against time to find the culprit and uncover the mysterious secrets of the guild.
I really enjoyed this book and its setting and descriptions. The plot kept me guessing all the way through as I tried to work out who the culprit was. I think this is definately a book to look out for.
What have you read recently that you think is a contender for KYBA '10 or even KYBA '11?

2009 Award Ceremony

On Wednesday April 29th County Hall Truro was ‘invaded’ for a second time by enthusiastic teen readers from 18 secondary schools in Cornwall eager to hear the final result of the second Kernow Youth Book Award (KYBA).

Young judges aged between eleven and fourteen years old appointed by each participating school had to read all six books from this year’s shortlist:

Finding Violet Park – Jenny Valentine
London Eye Mystery – Siobhan Dowd
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac – Gabrielle Zevin
Skulduggery Pleasant – Derek Landy
Teacher’s Dead – Benjamin Zephaniah
The Witness – James Jauncey

Between September and February 2009 they were all busy reading, discussing, listening and deciding on their school’s particular winner from the six. Once individual school results were in, they were collated by the committee to decide the overall winner of the KYBA Award 2009.

The award presentation took place in the Council Chamber of Cornwall Council's New County Hall and traditional pasties, fruit and drinks were provided for over 100 ravenous students. Bob McCreadie of Pirate FM kindly returned to host the presentation. The Harbour Bookshop provided a display of the short-listed titles for 2009 along with the “long-list” for KYBA 2010. Marion Bradley of Mullion School gave out second edition KYBA T-shirts creating a colourful look to the proceedings.

Even though the authors could not be with us in person, video links with James Jauncey and the winning author, Derek Landy, added to the air of excitement and expectation. Everyone was on the edge of their seats trying to work out from the individual schools’ favourites exactly who had won overall. There was some great use of oratory skills, clever power-points and even animation in stunning presentations to start the proceedings from the judges at Wadebridge (The Witness), St Ives (Skulduggery Pleasant), Falmouth (Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac), Teachers Dead (Cape Cornwall), London Eye Mystery (Mounts Bay) and Violet Park (Mullion).

Finally the moment arrived when we all heard from our MC that the KYBA award for 2009 had been won by Derek Landy with the outstanding fantasy detective story Skulduggery Pleasant. This book was voted the winner by 11 schools. David Bevington, who had the original idea for the KYBA award, kindly accepted the delightful KYBA award (designed and made by Vashti Thatham, Mullion School) on behalf of Derek Landy, who sent his thanks via video.