Atlas of Adventures Wins UK’s Sole Award for Educational Writing
01 Dec, 2015, 18:00 GMT
01 Dec, 2015, 18:00 GMT
LONDON, December 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
2015 Educational Writers' Award #EWA2015
A WHOLE WIDE WORLD OF WONDERS
The winner of the 2015 Educational Writers' Award is Atlas of Adventures, illustrated by Lucy Letherland and written by Rachel Williams.
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(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151118/288763LOGO )
The result of this year's Award - the UK's only award for educational writing - was announced this afternoon by Ed Vaizey MP, Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy, at the All Party Parliamentary Writers Group (APWG) Winter Reception at the House of Commons.
Atlas of Adventures, published by Wide Eyed Editions, is a treasury of natural wonders, exciting experiences and festivities from around the globe. It follows two children, a girl and a boy, as they travel to over 30 destinations across seven continents - including the London Eye, the Moscow Metro, the Grand Canyon, Northern Patagonia, the Dead Sea, the Zambezi River and the Great Barrier Reef - and discover hundreds of things to look at, and dozens of facts to learn on every page.
This year's judges -school librarian Caroline Gosden, headteacher Michael Schumm and author Cath Senker - were unanimous in their praise for the winning title:
"This is a beautifully designed, durable and hugely informative book, packed full of vibrant colour, and fascinating information and activities from countries around the world. Offering an experience not found on the internet, its roller coaster ride of a journey will encourage children across the primary school age groups to find out more about the world we live in."
Presenting the winning authors with a cheque for £2000, Ed Vaizey MP commented:
"Great writing encourages children to pick up a book and can inspire a life-long appetite for reading.
All of the winners and shortlisted authors should be proud of their outstanding work and role they play to educate and encourage the readers and writers of tomorrow."
Further information about the winning authors can be found in the Editor's Notes below.
The 2015 Educational Writers' Award focuses on books for 5-11 year olds, published in 2013 and 2014. Atlas of Adventures beat off strong competition from the four other titles shortlisted for this year's award. They were: Who Eats Who?, written by Teresa Heapy and illustrated by Rebecca Elliott (Oxford University Press); Marvellous Maths, written by Jonathan Litton and illustrated by Thomas Flintham (Templar); Dear Jelly: Family Letters From the First World War, written by Sarah Ridley (Franklin Watts); and Space Record Breakers, written by Anne Rooney (Carlton Kids).
The Educational Writers' Award was established in 2008 by the Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS) and the Society of Authors to celebrate educational writing that inspires creativity and encourages students to read widely and to build up their understanding of a subject beyond the requirements of exam specifications.
#EWA2015
Editor's Notes
About the Winning Authors
Lucy Letherland is an illustrator based in London. She graduated from Manchester School of Art in 2011 with a First Class BA (Hons) in illustration with animation. Lucy's work is strongly led by humour and narrative, creating a playful, graphic quality. Atlas of Adventures is Lucy's first book for children.
Rachel Williams was born in Australia and begun her book career at Lonely Planet, commissioning and co-authoring illustrated titles like The Travel Book. Atlas of Adventures is one of many books she has written for children.
This Year's Judges
Caroline Gosden has worked as a librarian in the education sector for the past 20 years, first in a secondary school, then in an FE/HE College and, for the last 10 years, in primary schools as a peripatetic librarian, as part of a scheme run by Tower Hamlets School Library Service.
Michael Schumm started life as an actor before turning to teaching in his early thirties. He has taught in Hackney, Cambridgeshire and Shepherd's Bush and has been Headteacher of St Stephen's CE Primary School in London's Uxbridge Road for 11 years.
Cath Senker has 25 years' experience as an editor in publishing and has written more than 130 books for children of all ages, specialising in history, global and social issues, world religions, human geography and environmental topics.
The Society of Authors (SoA)
The Society of Authors is a professional organisation representing over 9,000 authors of all types. Founded in 1884, it supports individual authors with services including contract vetting and acts as an advocate for the profession as a whole. The SoA also administers a wide range of prizes, as well as the Authors' Foundation, which is one of the very few bodies making grants to help with work in progress for established writers. For further information, contact info@societyofauthors.org or see http://www.societyofauthors.org
The Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS)
ALCS collects fees on behalf of the whole spectrum of UK writers: novelists, film & TV script writers, literary prize winners, poets; freelance journalists, translators and adaptors, as well as thousands of professional and academic writers who include nurses, lawyers, teachers, scientists and college lecturers. All writers are eligible to join ALCS: further details on membership can be found at http://www.alcs.co.uk. ALCS collects fees that are difficult, time-consuming or legally impossible for writers and their representatives to claim on an individual basis: money that is nonetheless due to them. Fees collected are distributed to writers twice a year. Since its inception, ALCS has distributed over £380 million to the nation's writers. For further information, contact alcs@alcs.co.uk or see http://www.alcs.co.uk
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