We are delighted to be able confirm that Bookfest is in a position to be able to give every pupil that takes part in Book Award 2024 a book from the shortlist.

The Shropshire Bookfest flagship reading for pleasure project, Book Award, sets out to inspire a life-long love of reading for pupils in primary schools across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

Book Award takes around 9 months to deliver and is run every two years by the largely volunteer team at Shropshire Bookfest. Since its inception in 2010, Book Award has increased its reach from 600 pupils to over 3,000 across 44 primary schools when it was last run in 2022. A truly spectacular endorsement by teachers and children as to its popularity and positive effect.

Schools pay to take part in Book Award, but this covers just 50% of the running costs. The remaining 50% is covered by funding from charitable trusts and foundations. Applications for funding from this sector require, quite rightly, a lot of time and effort by the team to get the narrative absolutely right to give Bookfest every opportunity to prove that our projects are of value and have impact and are worth funding.

During the preparation process to put Book Award 2024 together, we listened to feedback from teachers who felt that the group read set allocation system of supplying the shortlisted books slowed down the rate at which pupils finished the books in previous Book Awards. So we responded.

Thank you to all our generous and supportive funders for hearing our story and for uniting with Shropshire Bookfest and all the primary schools and teachers across the county to deliver on the aims of Book Award:

To help children develop a love of reading by introducing them to a range of well-written and genuinely engaging new books written for children of their age.

To encourage them to express their views about contemporary fiction through writing, illustration, drama and through discussion – both guided and informal – with their peers and with their teachers

To find the titles published in the last year that children in Shropshire aged 9-11 (BIG Book Award) and 4-7 (PICTURE Book Award) love the most.

If your school is interested in finding out about Book Award 2024, please get in touch with the team at Shropshire Bookfest here. Places are limited and bookings close in October 2023.