[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-bishops-stortford-picture-book-award-2019":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Last Thursday I got to present the tenth \u003Cb>Bishop's Stortford Picture Book Award\u003C/b> to writer \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/JimWhalley\">Jim Whalley\u003C/a> and artist \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/stephen_collins\">Stephen Collins\u003C/a> for their debut book together, \u003Ci>\u003Cb>\u003Ca href=\"https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/babys-first-bank-heist-9781547600649/\">Baby's First Bank Heist\u003C/a>\u003C/b>\u003C/i>! (I'm a huge fan of Stephen's weekly \u003Ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/the-stephen-collins-cartoon\">Guardian comic strip\u003C/a>, so I was thrilled to get to see him, and meet Jim!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/631161_original-5a152d7011.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nI wasn't up for the award this year; the reason that organiser \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/PikeRosemary\">Rosie Pike\u003C/a> asked me to present the awards is that I'd been the one to accept the very first award, \u003Ca href=\"https://jabberworks.livejournal.com/272418.html\">way back in 2010\u003C/a>, for my book with \u003Ca href=\"https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/giles-andreae\">Giles Andreae\u003C/a>, \u003Ci>\u003Cb>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/morris-the-mankiest-monster/\">Morris the Mankiest Monster\u003C/a>\u003C/b>\u003C/i>. Here you can see the then-Children's Laureate \u003Ca href=\"http://www.anthonybrownebooks.com/\">Anthony Browne\u003C/a> presenting the award along with a painting to commemorate the occasion by local artist \u003Cb>Simon Bailey\u003C/b>. And \u003Ca href=\"https://jabberworks.livejournal.com/373399.html\">a year later\u003C/a>, when Giles joined me to present the second award. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/631653_original-008785c3e0.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere you can see all the past winners. Rosie and the festival team really understand about the role illustrators play in creating these books and do a great job putting them right in the centre of the ceremony. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/631909_original-f66a9a8698.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more photos under the cut!-->\\r\nHere's a photo tweeted from the festival account - \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BSCFestLit\">@BSCFestLit\u003C/a> - of the dramatic moment right before the announcement... And all the children in the audience, who had voted for the award, met the results with wild applause and cheering! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/632256_original-245de0c894.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThird place: \u003Ci>\u003Cb>Tropical Terry\u003C/b>\u003C/i>, by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.byjarvis.com/\">Jarvis\u003C/a>\\r\nSecond place: \u003Cb>\u003Ci>There's a Dragon in Your Book\u003C/i>\u003C/b>, by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TomFletcher\">Tom Fletcher\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gregabbott\">Greg Abbott\u003C/a>\\r\nFirst place: \u003Cb>Baby's First Bank Heist\u003C/b>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/632344_original-89338e7254.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nCongratulations, Stephen and Jim!!!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/632771_original-d98ac6407b.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere they are on stage, talking about what went into making the book and hinting at the follow-up book they'll be publishing with Bloomsbury. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/632886_original-8f7c51f772.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nEvery year Simon Bailey paints a picture in honour of the latest winning book. For the first two years he drew pictures of the actual writers and illustrators, but it was rather tricky as he hadn't met us yet. So he didn't realise just HOW much taller I am than Anthony Browne, or that second-year winner Sue Hendra has one leg. Illustration can be quite fraught! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/633766_original-220507330a.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nFrom the third year, he focused on playing with elements of the books themselves, and all the pictures hang proudly in the school library. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/636888_original-bb282aab39.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWith some book awards, they invite up all the shortlisted writers and illustrators for a dramatic Oscar-style moment, but then if they don't win, all they've done is warmed a seat and lost a day of working on their book. With this award, they made very good use of my visit and I was able to connect with lots of children, doing two days of events. Here's a warmup drawing I did on the flip chart right before the first one began: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/634468_original-4bc210cb3f.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThe first one was a picture book event, featuring my two most recent picture books, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/dinosaur-firefighters/\">Dinosaur Firefighters\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/the-new-neighbours/\">The New Neighbours\u003C/a>. Check out this amazing book spread put out by \u003Cb>Tom Hunt\u003C/b> from the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.ncbc.co.uk/\">Norfolk Children's Book Centre\u003C/a>! Tom and \u003Cb>Lynn Bailey\u003C/b> both did a great job of connecting children with books over the two days. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/633541_original-9f79b71d8a.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nReading from \u003Ci>The New Neighbours\u003C/i>: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/633958_original-d77a17669a.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://philip-reeve.com/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> took this photo of me looking at the amazing drawings the kids had done of two of my characters (a diplodocus and a bunny). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/634177_original-84b7801bd0.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nI don't usually do that many events for grownups, but this time I did a special evening session on how to make picture books, talking about how I do it, book layouts, and how to get into the business. Here's a little peek at the cover of the printer proofs of a picture book I have coming out on May 2nd, called \u003Ci>\u003Cb>Grumpycorn\u003C/b>\u003C/i>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/634824_original-d1edf53dc5.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's the first book I ever made, carefully saved and put into a hand-sewn cover by my mother. It's called \u003Ci>\u003Cb>My Fish\u003C/b>\u003C/i> and is inspirationally random and boring. So if anyone wonders if I was some sort of child prodigy, they can look at this and take hope that anyone can learn how to make a book with enough practice. (I'm very fond of \u003Ci>My Fish\u003C/i>!) These two photos were tweeted by Emma Vandore - \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Emmissima\">@Emmissima\u003C/a> - who had recently finished the online \u003Ca href=\"https://www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk/creative-writing-courses/\">Curtis Brown Creatives course\u003C/a> I filmed with my \u003Ci>Jampires\u003C/i> co-author \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/davidoconnell\">David O'Connell\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/635127_original-4fac76daee.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nA glimpse of lovely Bishop's Stortford college campus in the twilight:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/635356_original-ccd2b906fa.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThe next morning, Philip Reeve and I did two big school assemblies featuring our latest book, \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.co.uk/the-legend-of-kevin/\">The Legend of Kevin\u003C/a>\u003C/i>. I didn't get any photos of it, but you can see the stage just before we went on...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/635604_original-0bdbecb7e8.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nMore lovely books! (It's fun to see them all laid out like this.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/635900_original-7ec09ec08c.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAfter our second event, Philip went to the library for a lunchtime book club, discussing his very first novel, \u003Ci>\u003Cb>Mortal Engines\u003C/b>\u003C/i>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/636031_original-ecdf8cacf2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThen Philip was whisked away for a big event about his own books, including the Mortal Engines quartet and the \u003Cb>Railhead\u003C/b> trilogy. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/636428_original-be32a6ab6d.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHe did some terrific readings from \u003Ci>Railhead\u003C/i> with video and music composed by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahReeve3\">Sarah Reeve\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/636266_original-011299a005.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nBig thanks to Rosie Pike, senior school librarian and picture book award coordinator \u003Cb>Maggie Garrett\u003C/b>, and all the festival team and booksellers for hosting us! And a special congratulations to Rosie for her TENTH year organising the festival - I hope she gets a good rest after this is all finished!\\r\n\\r\nEDIT: Another photo from the Bishop's Stortford College official photographer Ian Taylor, showing the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/airship/\">Airship Comic Jam\u003C/a> that I did with David O'Connell: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/641993_original-09f17ec3c5.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd a lovely student review by \u003Cb>Flo Stephens\u003C/b>: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cspan style=\"color: #5b49b3;\">\u003Cb>Illustrating the Art of Book-making\u003C/b>\\r\n\\r\nThe 6th of February saw Sarah McIntyre, a published children’s books illustrator and author, at the Festival of Literature. This fun packed session was full of top tips of her career journey from her very first comic book about her dead goldfish, to her soon to be published picture book, \u003Ci>Grumpycorn\u003C/i>. \\r\n\\r\nSarah took the audience on a whistle stop tour of how her characters are first sketched out, to the final glorious fluorescent pages visible in her books.  Her characters are engaging for children, such as her \u003Ci>Dinosaur Firefighters\u003C/i> and \u003Ci>The Prince of Pants\u003C/i> with huge detail in every page of beautifully formed artwork.\\r\n\\r\n“Writing is quick, but drawing is slow!” exclaimed Sarah when talking about her work. She used the comparison of drawing to playing the piano. “You cannot stand in front of a piano and expect to start playing Beethoven, so you cannot expect to start drawing brilliant pictures, without the practice”. \\r\n\\r\nOne part of the talk I found particularly captivating was her view point on the size of picture books, relative to her target audience- something that one would not necessarily consider.  She mentioned how picture books should be so engaging for a child, since they literally wrap the child in the book, making them become a part of the story.\\r\n\\r\nWith the session ending, I am sure that every audience member was rushing home to start making their very own books. Thank you very much to Sarah McIntyre for such an enjoyable evening and to the Bishop’s Stortford College Festival of Literature for hosting it. \\r\n\\r\n\\r\n\u003C/span>","2019-02-09T18:45:00.000Z","bishops-stortford-picture-book-award-2019",[],"bishop's stortford picture book award 2019",1776628730002]