A novel which tells the magical story of a boy who finds friendship in a ghost who helps provide the courage to escape from oppression has been voted as the 2024 winner of South Gloucestershire\u2019s literature prize for young people, the Concorde Book Award.<\/p>\n
Author of \u2018Ghostcloud\u2019, Michael Mann, beat off competition from five other young people\u2019s fiction titles to claim the coveted award.<\/p>\n
This is the welcome return of the awards after they paused during the covid pandemic, last being held in 2020. As before, this year\u2019s winner was chosen after an exciting district-wide reading challenge in which young people from groups throughout South Gloucestershire read their way through a shortlist of titles.<\/p>\n
Votes were cast on World Book Day (7 March) and the winner was announced at a celebration event for the young people taking part at Bristol and Bath Science Park at Emersons Green on Tuesday 12 March.<\/p>\n
Winning author Michael Mann attended the event together with special guest authors Jasbinder Bilan, the Costa Award – winning author of \u2018Asha and the Spirit Bird\u2019, \u2018Tamarind & the Star of Ishta\u2019 and \u2018Aarti and the Blue Gods\u2019, and Sophie Cleverly, a previous Concorde Award short listed author of the \u2018Scarlet & Ivy\u2019 and \u2018Violet Veil\u2019 series.<\/p>\n
Chair of South Gloucestershire Council, Councillor Mike Drew, said: \u201cCongratulations to Michael for winning this award from what was a shortlist full of excellent books. Reading can be so important for people of all ages and The Concorde Book Award encourages young people to maintain a passion for reading throughout their teens and enjoy the pleasure and social benefits of reading in groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winning author, Michael Mann, said: \u201cI\u2019m over the moon to have won the Concorde Book Award 2024. These awards mean so much to us authors, it\u2019s so important to know you\u2019ve connected with young readers \u2013 that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about for me. Ghostcloud is my first book and\u00a0I\u2019m on cloud-9!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Concorde Book Award is a long-running book award run by South Gloucestershire schools and public libraries in which groups of young people read a shortlist of novels. They are then encouraged to join a reading group, whether at school or in a local library, to read six books and talk about them with other group members, before voting on their favourite title.<\/p>\n
The scheme aims to promote a love of reading among 11-14 year olds (Year 7 to 9 secondary school students, Key stage 3), and thousands of young people have taken part since it was launched in 2007.<\/p>\n
The Award is unique in being one of the few literary awards that involves children and young people all the way through from choosing the longlist and the winner, to delivering presentations and author interviews at the annual award ceremony.<\/p>\n
Shortlisted books are made available from South Gloucestershire public and school libraries, and voting takes place on World Book Day each year.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s shortlisted titles were:<\/p>\n