Favourite author of the month, S.A. Patrick, stepped in to send an exclusive video to his superfans after the Salford Children’s Book Award was cancelled.
Over 170 11-14-year-olds from 10 high schools across Salford were about to meet their favourite authors when the carefully-planned and ever-popular educational event was cancelled last minute due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Luckily winning author, S.A. Patrick, stepped in to send an exclusive video to his superfans and a message of thanks.
Each year the award sees high school pupils reading five outstanding shortlisted books between September and February and following this, the children vote for their favourite author in March.
Usually the literary event is held at the University of Salford’s New Adelphi Building, and this year would have been the seventeenth year of the Salford Children’s Book Award. Considering the circumstances, S.A. Patrick made sure his appreciation did not go unnoticed.
He stepped in to post a special video that went live to Salford’s schoolchildren at 10.30 am on Friday 20th March, and the result was shared with the public at 11 am.
Chris Farey, head of libraries at Salford Community Leisure, said: “For 17 years Salford Schools’ Library Service has been encouraging high school pupils to continue their love of reading through the Salford Children’s Book Award.
“Although this year’s event was cancelled, we are very grateful to all the schools that participated in the scheme and all the pupils that read the books and voted for their favourite from the shortlisted authors.
“We will continue to inspire and engage Salford’s young people by providing the most diverse range of reading materials possible every year, as we believe that reading different types of literature can really enhance learning, vocabulary and general knowledge.
“Salford pupils that are library members can read books while they are out of school via our Borrowbox service”
Since 2003, the Salford Children’s Book Award has distributed over 3,000 books to schools across the City, has generated over 2,000 votes and has awarded 15 different authors.
If you want to know more about this year’s shortlist, be sure to visit their website, which also includes a personal Q & A video with S.A Patrick.
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