Cyril and Pat by Emily Gravett wins inaugural book award for under-fives

The new award celebrates the best books for sharing with babies and children from birth to five, and is run in partnership with the Youth Library Group.

The organisers said that the competition was extremely close and the standards high for the prize’s inaugural year.

Over the 2019 summer holidays, the seven shortlisted books were shared with hundreds of children, carers and families by public librarians from nine English regions, along with Wales and Northern Ireland, to find the best book for sharing. 

Emily Gravett, author and illustrator said, 'Wow! I’m SO excited that Cyril and Pat has won the very first BookTrust Storytime Prize. I’m doing a little dance right now (but may have stopped by the time you read this- I’m not that fit!), but I promise I shall still be dancing on the inside.

'When I imagine my books out in the world, I like to imagine them being shared, whether that’s as part of a cosy bedtime, or in a classroom or library group, so I’m extra proud that Cyril and Pat has won a prize whose very ethos is to find the best books for sharing. Hurrah!’

Diana Gerald, BookTrust CEO said, ‘BookTrust set up this prize to give credit to the wonderful authors and illustrators that create the books that give families so much pleasure, before children can read themselves or even talk.

‘We are delighted Emily Gravett’s wonderful, funny and moving book Cyril and Pat is our very first BookTrust Storytime Prize winner. We know, and this year’s annual lecture by Paul Howard Jones confirms, that these early reading experiences inform children’s whole lives and pave the way to them becoming readers with all the benefits that brings - so thank you to all the publishers and creators that make reading so much fun!’

The other books on the shortlist were:

• Billy and the Beast by Nadia Shireen
• Cake by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet
• Amazing by Steve Antony
• Can’t you Sleep Little Owl by Jo Lodge
• Hat Tricks by Satoshi Kitamura
• If All the World Were by Joseph Coelho and Allison Colpoys

The prize was judged by Baroness Floella Benjamin, illustrator James Mayhew and librarians Amy McKay, Alison Brumwell, Jake Hope, Joy Court and Julia Hale.