Yesterday I went to the awards ceremony for the Bishop’s Stortford Festival of Literature Picture Book Award because Odd Dog Out was one of the nominated books. This is a really nice prize because it is entirely voted for by kids so I was hugely flattered to be included.
The shortlist was incredibly strong.
A Beginner’s Guide to Bear Spotting by Michelle Robinson and David Roberts
A Child of Books by Sam Winston and Oliver Jeffers
A Dog Called Bear by Diane and Christyan Fox
The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
Max and Bird by Ed Vere
Odd Dog Out by Rob Biddulph
Oi Dog! by Jim Field and Kes and Claire Gray
This Book is Out of Control! by Richard Byrne
Tidy by Emily Gravett
See? Anyway, guess what. We won!
Exciting, huh? It was SUCH a proud moment for me when the great Korky Paul read my name out as the winner.
I was at the ceremony with my brilliant editor Alice Blacker and my equally brilliant publicist Jo Hardacre, which was a lot of fun. Here we are straight after the result was announced...
I'd really like to thank Alice, Jo and the entire crew at HarperCollins. Making a picture book is a real team effort and, even though it's a cliché I'm still going to say it: this award is just as much theirs as it is mine. I love working with these guys.
It was great to meet some of the other shortlisted authors and illustrators too. Here I am with Richard Byrne, Emily Gravett, Diane Fox, Christyan Fox and Ed Vere.
Such a talented bunch and really nice people too. It was a privilege to be shortlisted alongside them.
So Odd Dog Out is now an award-winning book. That is a nice sentence to be able to type. Now then, just got to get the next one finished...