We recently took a group of Year 7 and 8 pupils to Latymer Upper for the annual award ceremony of the 2023/4 Trinity School Book Award competition. This very popular book event is now in its tenth year, with Emanuel participating annually since 2013. The inaugural TSBA was also hosted by Latymer, in which the late Judith Kerr and Michael Morpurgo were author guests of honour, so it was nice to return to the same school a decade later. The core aim of celebrating the power of reading remains unchanged.
In that first competition, Emanuel’s Sadie Soverall (OE 2013-20) scooped first prize for designing an author poster celebrating Michael Morpurgo. You might since have spotted Sadie on TV or the cinema, as she played Beatrice the fairy in the Netflix programme Winx Club and had a support role in the hit film Saltburn.
This year we had four pupils entered in the review and creative response competitions and were delighted to win two prizes in what are always hotly contested competitions. We entered three reviews: Mishka (Year 8), Violet (Year 8) and Orla (Year 8), with Orla winning a runner up prize for her lovely piece on the graphic novel The Girl from the Sea, by Molly Knox Ostertag.
Charlotte (Year 7) was our other prize winner, scooping joint first place for her model and quirky film inspired by Chloe Daykin’s amusing novel Fish Boy. The funny narrative, which uses the AI voice of Sir David Attenborough, was a joy to watch and the judges thought her project was hilarious. Charlotte should be very proud of her efforts.
Charlotte’s first prize winning film can be viewed on the TSBA website if you follow this link.
Everybody who attended had a lovely time and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet other authors, including Frances Hardinge (Deeplight), Ann Sei Lin (Rebel Skies) and Natasha Bowen (Skin of the Sea). Ann Sei Lin was delighted to win the author competition, with Rebel Skies being nominated ‘Pupil Choice Winner’ in a huge multi-school pupil vote. In the senior category, the award was won by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez for the excellent Lies Like Wildfire, with the author sending an excited gushing video message from the USA.
Overall, we were very pleased with how the tenth TSBA went, with the eight books being very popular with the pupils and widely read across the Lower School.
However, the process never ends, now the school librarians on the book selection committee (including myself) will shortly be finalising the theme for the 2024/5 award. Then the long process begins for selecting the next shortlist which we hope to release before the summer holidays.
Attached are a selection of photos, including our winners, our display, pupils with Frances Hardinge and other snaps from the ceremony.
Mr Jones, Senior Librarian and archivist
