Just before half-term a group of us gathered in the school library to watch the (Virtual) TSBA Ceremony for the Seven Book Challenge, which was being held at Ibstock Place School.

The word from the organisers was that the standard of entries, particularly for the Creative Response section, was incredibly strong. We submitted two great entries from Oliver (7RDC) and Nahom (6CB) and remained hopeful of some recognition. Our reviews were also of excellent quality with Oliver (again) and Esme (8AEM) representing Emanuel.

The ceremony was very entertaining and includes lots of examples of some wonderful work, with both Nahom and Esme appearing on screen. However, we were absolutely delighted when it was revealed that Oliver had won first prize in the most competitive of fields, the Creative Response! The standard was so high an unprecedented eight prizes were awarded:

First Prize: Oliver, Emanuel School (Inkling)

Second (1): Eddie, Dulwich College (No Fixed Address)

Second (2): Sofia, Kingston Grammar School (The Island at the End of Everything)

Third (1): Josh, Ibstock Place School (High Rise Mystery)

Third (2): Elena, Latymer Upper School (Inkling)

Third (3): Jasmine, Ibstock Place School (No Fixed Address)

Highly Commended (1): Leonard, City of London School (Inkling)

Highly Commended (2): Amelie, Latymer Upper School (Inkling)

The ceremony concluded with Oliver’s entire film in which the ‘Splat’ character from the novel Inkling takes a tour through the seven books on the TSBA short list. The judges were incredibly impressed by the creativity involved in the project and it was a very popular winner. Oliver did Emanuel proud.

You can watch the film on our You Tube channel here:

After the pupil vote Susin Nielsen’s No Fixed Address was declared winner of the TSBA author prize and we listened to Susin’s acceptance speech from Canada.

The next TSBA Seven Book Challenge has the theme of ‘Second Chances’ and the short list of chosen books will be released in the next newsletter.

Well done to Oliver, our other finalists Esme and Nahom, and everybody else who took part in the TSBA competition this year.

Mr Jones (Senior Librarian)