Colin Thompson collects the Hampshire Illustrated Book Award

2246 Year 5 children from 56 Hampshire primary schools took part in the Hampshire Illustrated Book Award for 2007. Colin Thompson’s Castles was the winning title, judged on the three P’s of picture power, picture position and picture pleasure. Colin collected his award from Fryern Junior School in Chandler’s Ford, Southampton, on 3rd April, where he spoke to pupils from 8 participating schools about his work. The award aims both to promote the enjoyment of reading and draw attention to the genre of picture books for older readers. A teacher from one of the schools at the award ceremony commented:

“ I really liked the fact that this is an award that the children decide for themselves. I am a huge fan of picture books and this is a great way to get older children to read them.” And the children themselves? One of them described ‘Castles’ as “ as much fun as a new playground” and you can’t get much better than that!