The author and illustrator team behind the Horrid Henry books, Francesca Simon and Tony Ross, are two of the judges preparing to exercise their chuckle muscles with this year’s Roald Dahl Funny Prize submissions. Francesca and Tony will be joined on the judging panel by Twitter queen, author and comedic columnist Grace Dent and Yes Man author and journalist Danny Wallace. Roald Dahl Funny Prize founder and children’s author extraordinaire, Michael Rosen returns to chair the panel.
Michael Rosen comments on the appointment of his fellow judges:
‘What a team! People whose comedic feathers have been tickling young people's funny bones for years. I can't wait for the judging sessions where we grapple with the outrageous gags of this season's most hilarious books - and this is the perfect gang to do it with.’
The Prize, which is in its fourth year, is the first of its kind; launched to honour those books that make young people, and all of us, roar with laughter. Concerned that the really side-splittingly funny books were being overlooked by other book awards, the Prize was created by Michael Rosen in 2008 as part of his work as Children’s Laureate.
This year, for the first time, the Prize will see schools involved in the judging process. Over 400 pupils from England have been selected to read the shortlisted titles, discuss with their classmates, and pick their favourite funny book in the relevant category for their age. Their votes will then be combined with the votes of the adult judging panel to find the two winners for 2011. Classes who participate will also have the opportunity to win a chance to perform to the audience at the award ceremony.
No comments:
Post a Comment