A Dundee teacher has proved top of the class after winning the Best Story category in the Blue Peter Book Awards 2015.
Voted for by hundreds of schoolchildren, Harris Academy philosophy teacher Pamela Butchart’s The Spy Who Loved School Dinners won the Best Story category.
She will receive her award live on Blue Peter this afternoon from Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2013-2015 Malorie Blackman, as the show celebrates its 15th anniversary of the prize.
Pamela said: “I’m shocked and utterly over the moon about winning this fantastic award. It means the world to me that children voted for my book. Thank you.”
Pamela famously went to Innes Bookshop in St Andrews on her wedding day, complete with wedding dress, to see copies of her brand new book The Spy Who Loved School Dinners on the shelf in August.
A panel of judges including Tom Gates author Liz Pichon, Rastamouse creator Michael de Souza, The Bookseller journalist Anna James, and non-voting chair of judges, Blue Peter editor Ewan Vinnicombe, selected the shortlist from publishers’ submissions.
These were then read and voted on by more than 200 children from ten schools across the UK to decide the winners in each category.
The winners were announced on a special World Book Day morning bulletin of Newsround this morning.