South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 07/03/2014

The debut novel by Buckinghamshire author Teri Terry beat off competition from five other young people’s fiction titles to claim the coveted award.

Once again this year’s winner was chosen after an exciting district-wide reading challenge in which hundreds of young people from public and school library reading groups throughout South Gloucestershire worked their way through a shortlist of titles.

Votes were cast on World Book Day and the winner was announced tonight at a gala event at the Bristol and Bath Science Park at Emersons Green.

Receiving the award, Teri Terry said: “I’m absolutely delighted to win the Concorde Book Award. Awards voted for by readers mean the most.”

Chair of South Gloucestershire Council Cllr Ian Boulton said: “Once again I’m overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the young people who have taken part in this year’s Awards.

“Reading for pleasure is such a fantastic activity and the remarkable thing about the Concorde Awards is the way in which it promotes a habit that will hopefully stay with our young people throughout their lives.

“So congratulations to all the young people who have taken part, to South Gloucestershire’s school and public librarians for organising another excellent event, and last but not least to Teri Terry for her well-deserved win.”

The Concorde Book Award, supported by The Bristol Post, is a long-running ‘young people’s Booker’ run by South Gloucestershire schools and public libraries in which groups of young people read a shortlist of novels before voting on their favourite title.

The scheme aims to promote a love of reading among 11-13 year olds and in the seven years since it was launched, thousands of young people have taken part.

The Award is unique in being one of the few literary awards chosen by young people rather than adults.

Shortlisted books are made available from South Gloucestershire public and school libraries, and voting takes place on World Book Day in March each year.

This year’s shortlisted titles were The Bonehill Curse, by Jon Mayhew: Gangsta Granny by David Walliams; Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner; Slated by Teri Terry; Wonder by RJ Palacio; and Tom Gates: Everything’s Amazing… Sort Of by Liz Pichon.

For more information on the Concorde Book Award, see www.southglos.gov.uk/concordebookaward