The North East Book Awards took place on Monday 18th June and seven of GEMS finest KS2 pupils took part in the awards ceremony.  However, if you wanted to attend you had to pay a price… a price of not being able to watch England vs Tunisia.

There were several shortlisted authors there including Mitch Johnson and Ross Welford.  There were also other local authors there too such as Dan Smith, Chloe Daykin and Chris Callaghan.

First up to speak was Dan Smith who talked about his time at boarding school and read out his letters home.  He told us how he got into writing and I found his talk very interesting. Next up was Mitch Johnson who told us how he had been inspired to write when he found an energy gel in a sports shoe box. He told us how much sympathy he felt for the people making such products and the main character in his book works in a sweatshop.  I thought this was a different  to anything I had read before and it made me want to read the book.

Lastlly was Ross Welford who wrote ‘The 1,000 Year Old Boy’.  He asked for a volunteer from Year 5 and I was chosen.  At first I was bit nervous when he asked me to come on stage—but I was fine. I was basically his assistant and all I needed to do was to count up to 5 while he made two pieces of rope connect and disconnect.  As I walked off, he gave me a souvenir...the magic rope.  He performed these magic tricks because all of his books have a connection with magic.

To end the night, we found out who won the award—it was Helena Duggan for her book ‘A Place Called Perfect’.  There was a huge round of applause and she seemed to be a popular winner.  We were all given a £5 book voucher and many people bought copies of the short listed books and then has them signed by the author.

I am glad that the North East Book Awards takes place as it inspires many young minds to read.  If you are looking for some summer reading check out their website.

By Ethan 5ER