The suspense of the Shropshire Bookfest Big Book Award is finally over – and once again St. Winefride’s has done itself proud. At the Award Ceremony at Theatre Severn on Thursday 28th April, members of our Year 5 and 6 classes were awarded two prizes! Our warm congratulations go to Erin H as the overall winner of the Letter Writing Competition and Erin J who was awarded third prize in the Art Competition. Our pupils faced very stiff competition from nearly two thousand participants so it is a real achievement to come away with an award. It was a joy to be part of the audience and share in the excitement as the winners were announced. Equally surprised and delighted were the author and illustrator of No Country, Joe Brady and Patrice Aggs when they discovered that their graphic novel had received the most votes. It is the first time a graphic novel featured on the shortlist, so a triumph for this creative pair!

There is, of course much more to Shropshire Bookfest than winning prizes. Its value lies in the in-depth reading and discussion of the six shortlisted books and in creating opportunities for children to engage with the texts in other creative ways. For example, all our pupils illustrated scenes from the books, and Sophie and Echo memorised and acted whole chunks of text to produce an outstanding video, which was expertly filmed by Heidi and Ariadne. Erin H also wrote and performed an eloquent and moving soliloquy. Well done, Year 5 and 6, you should feel very proud of your efforts.

My sincere thanks to Mr Goody, Mrs Ward and Mr Keeling, our Art teacher, for their engagement with and interest in this project. Without their involvement, our participation in Bookfest would not have been possible.

Mrs N Beyers

Librarian and Shropshire Bookfest Book Award Co-ordinator

You may also like

Year 6 Trip: Battlefield 1403
St Winefride’s – home of National Champions!
A Greek Odyssey: Year 5 Explores History at Shrewsbury Museum

Richard Goody