Eight students in Years 7-9, who are all members of our lunchtime Carnegie Book Club, have travelled by train to London with our Academy Librarian, Mr Wheatley to attend the Carnegie Book Awards ceremony at the Cambridge Theatre. Throughout the academic year, students read and discuss the nominated books, before submitting a vote for their favourite.

With limited capacity for seating in the theatre, school librarians must apply for seats and in previous years, our students have had to access the awards ceremony via live stream only. This year, Mr Wheatley was delighted to be allocated free tickets and the group joined an audience of 600 young people who had travelled from across the UK to celebrate the winners in person.

The Carnegies celebrate achievement in children’s writing and illustration, and each year thousands of reading groups in schools around the world get involved, with young people ‘shadowing’ the judging process and choosing their own winners from the shortlist.

This year, in terms of the judges’ choice, Margaret McDonald received the Carnegie Medal for Writing, for her emotional novel, 'Glasgow Boys', a story which explores mental health, trauma, inequality and identity through the friendship between two boys in foster care. The winner of the Carnegie Medal for Illustration was Olivia Lomenech Gill for 'Clever Crow', which was written by Chris Butterworth; Olivia is well known for her work on J.K Rowling’s 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. The winner of the Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Writing was 'King of Nothing' by Nathanael Lessore, much to the approval of our students who had voted for this particular novel themselves.

Before the formal ceremony, all of the shortlisted authors and illustrators delivered an inspiring talk to students, sharing their tips on how to establish a career in the industry, how to develop their own writing and illustration style, and the importance of dedication and resilience. This also included a Q&A session.

Mr Wheatley said, "Members of our Carnegie Book Club are dedicated readers and really look forward to taking part in this event every year. We have always enjoyed watching the awards ceremony in school as it is live streamed, however this year it was amazing to be there and experience the atmosphere in person. Our students were truly inspired, as was I."