Winners of first STEAM Children’s Book Prize announced
The University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) in-house publishing company has teamed up with the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) to promote STEAM subjects (science, technology, engineering, arts, maths) to young people through literature.
UCLan Publishing and BIS have announced the winners of the inaugural STEAM Children’s Book Prize, which was open to all authors who have written books focused on STEAM subjects in order to inspire and educated young readers from early years through the young adults.
Author Christopher Edge won the overall award for his book ‘The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day’, with prizes also given out to Roman Belyaev for ‘How Does a Lighthouse Work?’ In the Best Information category and Tom Pollock for ‘White Rabbit Red Wolf’ in the Young Adult category. Christopher’s book also won the prize for the Middle Grade category. In addition, the Your Choice Award was decided by school votes from across the country.
"Getting children and young people excited about STEAM subjects via fiction is no easy task but all of the winners of this year’s awards demonstrate the huge amount of talent UK authors have in this area."
Hazel Holmes from UCLan Publishing said: “We're thrilled with our list of winners, and really feel these books reflect the huge amount of talent the UK publishing industry has to offer. The aim of the prize is to highlight the importance of STEAM subjects and praise the publishing industry and authors for championing them. By providing children with engaging, fun, and exciting literature, they’ll hopefully be inspired to take an interest in STEAM further into their education.
“There are so many wonderful titles out there that provide the encouragement we desperately need, they may indeed bridge the skills gap we are currently experiencing in the UK.”
Judge Charlotte Eyre commented: “Getting children and young people excited about STEAM subjects via fiction is no easy task but all of the winners of this year’s awards demonstrate the huge amount of talent UK authors have in this area. Each prize-winning title deserves a place in homes, schools and libraries across the country."
The award comes after UCLan Publishing and BIS launched a news children’s book, Blast off the to Moon, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing in July and to explain to children in a clear way what happened, how it happened and why it happened. The book is aimed at children up to around the age of 11 and is available to buy from Amazon.
Submissions for the 2020 STEAM Children’s Book Prize will open in September.