This book is as crazy as it is inspired. We laughed while judging it and the kids we tried it out on were wildly enthusiastic. As well as a great story, it looks good on the page. It is a worthy winner of the fifth Oscar's Book Prize.
A children’s book “as crazy as it is inspired” was named winner of Oscar’s Book Prize at an awards ceremony held last night at St James’s Palace.
Penned by former primary school teacher turned writer John Dougherty and brought to life with comical artwork by illustrator Laura Hughes, the winning book There’s A Pig Up My Nose is a delightfully silly tale about a group of schoolchildren banding together to help protagonist Natalie find a way to get a pig out of her nose.
Awarding the prize HRH Princess Eugenie said: "I had the best day reading the shortlist and laughing at all the books. I am proud to be here this evening in remembrance of Oscar Ashton."
The winner was presented the prize by Princess Eugenie, and was chosen out of a record 100 entries following overwhelming praise from the judging panel, which included TV and radio presenter Katie Derham, Children’s Director of the Hay Festival Julia Eccleshare, UK Director of Books at Amazon Brigitte Ricou-Bellan, and Oscar’s parents James Ashton and Viveka Alvestrand.
Oscar’s Book Prize, supported by Amazon and the National Literacy Trust, is a celebration of children’s literature which looks for the best book for under-fives published in the past year. Now in its fifth year, the award honours Oscar Ashton, the son of James Ashton and Viveka Alvestrand who had an expansive imagination and loved fantastical stories but sadly passed away at the age of three and a half from an undetected heart condition.
“It was remarkable to see the swell of enthusiasm and quantity of quality submissions for Oscar’s Book Prize this year,” added Brigitte Ricou-Bellan, Director of Books, Amazon. “Early years literacy is a key building block in a child’s development and we are incredibly proud to be supporting this cause once more. Congratulations to John Dougherty and Laura Hughes.”
