The winner of the Bolton's very own book prize has been announced and voted for by the people who count the most.

Bolton School announced the winnter of its Bolton Children's Fiction Award as chosen by its readers - schoolchildren from across the borough.

The winner was announced in the  Great Hall.

Boys and girls from across Bolton visited Bolton School for the big reveal.

The authors and books shortlisted for 2022 were included Stewart Foster for The Perfect Parent Project, Ele Fountain for Lost, Elle McNicoll for A Kind of Spark, Lesley Parr  forThe Valley of Lost Secrets, Helen Rutter for The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh and Joe Wilson for The Island That Didn’t Exist.

This year as well as reading the shortlist Bolton School’s librarians arranged a series of Zoom talks with the six shortlisted authors..

This followed on from the success of using technology to connect authors and readers during the pandemic, when in-person visits were not possible, and allowed everybody  involved in the awards to hear from all six authors about their books.

A spokesperson for Botlon School said: "On the day of the award ceremony there was a buzzing atmosphere in the Great Hall at Bolton School as pupils congregated to hear the announcement of the winner - Helen Rutter with her book ‘The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh’.

"Helen was delighted to accept the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award for 2022 in person. She addressed the audience, thanking them for their votes and talking more about her journey to becoming an author and how the story of Billy Plimpton, ‘The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh’, came about.

"She also got the audience involved in collectively creating an outline for their very own story during the event.

"This memorable and fun activity encouraged everyone to get involved and start thinking creatively."

Earlier in the day, Helen spent the morning with the school's book clubs talking about her writing and books more generally.

Children across Bolton can now look forward to the Bolton Children’s Fiction award 2023. The new shortlist will be announced by Bolton School’s Librarians very soon.

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