Kilkenny students choose KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards winners

Students from six schools and libraries in Kilkenny participated in a national Junior Juries programme for this year’s KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards.

The winners were announced at a ceremony in Dublin this week in partnership with International Literature Festival Dublin.

Through the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards Junior Juries programme young people in schools, libraries and book clubs shadowed adult judges in reading, discussing and assessing the shortlisted books. 

The judging panel read a record 158 titles from Irish-born or Ireland-based writers and illustrators, the biggest year so far in the history of the awards.

Schools and libraries in Kilkenny that participated in the Junior Juries programme included:

Castlecomer Junior Book Club

Ferrybank Library, Kilkenny Library Service      

Gaelscoil Osraí, Kilkenny

Graiguenamanagh Library, Kilkenny

Kilkenny School Project            

Presentation Convent National School, Castlecomer

Award-Winning Titles

The KPMG Book of the Year Award – ‘Catfish Rolling’ by Clara Kumagai (Zephyr).

The Honour Award for Fiction – ‘Treacle Town’ by Brian Conaghan (Andersen Press).

The Honour Award for Illustration – ‘Three Tasks for a Dragon’ illustrated by PJ Lynch (Walker Books).

The Eilís Dillon Award for best début children’s book– ‘Wider Than the Sea’ by Serena Molloy (Hodder Children’s Books).

The Judges’ Special Award – ‘The Hare Shaped Hole,’ written by John Dougherty and illustrated by Thomas Docherty (Frances Lincoln Children's Books).

The KPMG Junior Juries Award – ‘The Hare Shaped Hole,’ written by John Dougherty and illustrated by Thomas Docherty (Frances Lincoln Children's Books).

A total prize-fund of €16,000 has been awarded to this year’s winners.