Ahead of听World听Book听Day, the New Bury Theatre was enlivened by听nearly 300听young people who had converged on Hurst College for the Southern Schools Book Award Presentation Evening. Reading can be a solitary experience, so it was gratifying to see so many of them enthusiastically chatting about the chosen books and about reading in general. Pupils from twenty-nine schools were in the auditorium, experiencing it live as well as other schools who watched it via a livestream. This year we had the largest contingent of Hurst students ever, including Senior School pupils from all year groups as well as incredibly passionate Year 8 pupils who had听written听book reviews on all the shortlisted books.听
As schools started to arrive, the few in the auditorium were entranced by Chris Riddell, who was on magnificent form live-drawing the event. Dominic Mott delivered an opening speech and enjoyed sharing his love of reading with a room of like-minded young people. Clare Furniss (2025鈥檚 winner) introduced the shortlisted authors were able to attend: Adam Connors (Find me After), Rachel Delahaye (Splinters), Scarlett Dunmore (How to survive a horror movie), and Olivia听Levez听(Silver). Sadly, William Hussey (The boy I love) was unable to attend, but sent a heartfelt speech which was beautifully illustrated by Chris Riddell as Clare read the words.听听
A palpable sense of excitement filled the space as everyone waited to see who had won. There was a huge round of applause when Adam Connors received the Highly Commended award, followed by another when Scarlett Dunmore was announced as the overall winner. We look forward to seeing her host the event next year.听
At the book signing afterwards, our pupils contentedly waited to get a book signed by the author of their choice as well as a goody bag. They all agreed that the evening had been brilliant and left with huge smiles on their faces, clutching their next read.听听
This is such a lovely event for the College to host, as everyone who attends enjoys themselves; it is a pleasure to welcome such passionate readers to Hurst. We look forward to the next shortlist and to sharing the joy of reading with another group of readers next year.听
