Booktrust Early Years Awards shortlist announced

Booktrust has announced the 2009 shortlist for its Early Years Awards which celebrate the best books for babies, toddlers and pre-school children.

The shortlisted categories are the Baby Book Award, the Pre-school Award and the Best Emerging Illustrator. The winner for each category will receive a cheque for £2,000 at an awards ceremony to be held at the BAFTA headquarters in London on the evening of 23 September 2009.

The shortlisted books all exemplify the remarkable creativity in words, design and illustration necessary to encourage young children to read. They are:

Baby Book Award

• Chick by Ed Vere (Puffin)
• The Big Night-Night Book by Georgie Birkett (Red Fox)
• Baby Loves: Tiger by Claire Dowe (Scholastic)
• Five Little Ducks by Francesca Stich & Jemima Lumley, illus. Jason Chapman (Simon & Schuster)
• Baby’s Very First Outdoors Book by Stella Baggott (Usborne)
• That’s Not My Frog… by Fiona Watt, illus. Rachel Wells (Usborne)

Pre-School Award

• If I Were You by Richard Hamilton, illus. Babette Cole (Bloomsbury)
• Oliver Who Travelled Far and Wide by Mara Bergman, illus. Nick Maland (Hodder Children’s)
• Sylvia and Bird by Catherine Rayner (Little Tiger Press)
• Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood (Macmillan)
• The Tail of the Whale by Ellie Patterson, illus. Christine Pym (Meadowside)
• Miaow Said the Cow by Emma Dodd (Templar Publishing)

Best Emerging Illustrator

• The Grump by Sarah Garson (Andersen Press)
• Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia (Boxer Books)
• Box of Tricks by Katie Cleminson (Jonathan Cape)
• Small Mouse Big City by Simon Prescott (Little Tiger Press)
• The Haunted House by Kazuno Kohara (Macmillan)
• Peas! by Andy Cullen, illus. Simon Rickerty (Puffin Books)

The judges for this year’s Early Years Awards are broadcaster and television presenter Edith Bowman, Bookstart founder Wendy Cooling MBE, librarian Jo Dixon, award-winning illustrator Neal Layton and health professional Val Woolfe.

Commenting on this year’s shortlist, Edith Bowman, judge and BBC broadcaster said: “It has been such a wonderful experience being on the judging panel this year; I’ve been able to read so many books to my little boy and it’s only made me enjoy reading to him even more. Books are such an important thing in children’s lives and the high standard on offer is incredible.”