Carnegie award nominated author visits Hackney schools
Top children's author Katherine Rundell led a panel of judges at a Hackney schools' literary competition.
Eight local schools took part in the Carnegie Competition, which involved each of them presenting on one of the eight books which were short listed for this year's Carnegie prize - one of the biggest awards in children's literature. One of them was Katherine's book, Rooftoppers.
Pupils used visual art, drama, dance, music and moving images to express their thoughts and feelings about the books.
The winning school was Mossbourne Academy for their presentation on Rooftoppers. The panel of judges also included staff from Hackney Learning Trust and Jo de Guia, owner of Victoria Park Books, who arranged for the author to visit Hackney.
Our Carnegie Competition helps bring books to life and encourages children to get talking about literature. They get the opportunity to read some brand new books, meet one of the authors and then enjoy the excitement of seeing who wins the national prize, days after the event. Congratulations to the winning school and to all those who took part for some excellent presentations.
The winner of the national prize was The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks, who has previously hosted Hackney's Carnegie Competiton.
The eight schools who took part in this year’s event, on 19 June at Petchey Academy, were:
Bridge Academy
Clapton Girls' Academy
Petchey Academy
Cardinal Pole School
Mossbourne Academy
The Urswick School
Skinners' Academy
Stoke Newington School