Angus Book Award 2009
And the winner is....
Winning author Anne Cassidy
Author Anne Cassidy has won the 2009 Angus Book Award for her novel Forget Me Not published by Scholastic Children's Books - a sympathetic, shocking and compelling narrative, which reveals the hidden secrets and truth behind two abductions. The winning author was presented with her trophy, a miniature replica of the Aberlemno Serpent Stone, and the £500 prize at the ceremony attended by all four shortlisted authors and participating pupils in Forfar Academy on May 19th 2009.
After several months of decision making and debate in the eight Angus secondary schools and a secret ballot, the four shortlisted authors arrived from all over the UK to visit schools to speak to the participating pupils and take part in the award ceremony.
On her visits to Webster's High and Arbroath High, Anne Cassidy spoke of her fear of children going missing and her interest in why these things happen, and of how this is illustrated in Forget Me Not and her previous shortlisted novel Looking For JJ by revealing the incident at the beginning as opposed to the end and exploring the reasons why throughout the rest of the story. Jan Henderson, an ex-pupil of Webster's High, and shortlisted for the second time, spoke to pupils of Carnoustie High and Monifieth High of the advantages of being a writer such as, the freedom to explore circumstances and aspects of life through one's imagination and of his entry into the world of writing after working as an Easter bunny in a Texas shopping mall, where he made up stories in his head in order to stop him going crazy. Visiting Brechin High and Forfar Academy, James Jauncey on talking about his novel The Witness, posed the question "If you had five minutes in which to leave your house and knew you would never be able to come home again what would you take?" in order to demonstrate the life changing effect war has on everyday people going about their everyday lives. Meg Rosoff shared with pupils from Arbroath Academy and Montrose Academy her journey into becoming an author, her interest in gender identity and of what makes a real boy or real girl; how people very often turn out to be the opposite of what you might think them to be.
This year competitions were run for the best presentation, the best designed alternative book jacket and the best review of the shortlisted novels. Neil Cooney of Borders, sponsors of the Angus Book Award 2009, announced the winners. Robyn Ward of Montrose Academy won the best book jacket for Forget Me Not. Fiona Coyne of Monifieth Academy won the best book review What I Was, while Nicola Petrie of Forfar Academy was runner-up for her review on Crash. The best presentation went to Forfar Academy for the excellent film interpretation of The Witness.
With both authors and pupils waiting to hear the result of the secret ballot, the atmosphere was one of nervous anticipation at the evening event, hosted this year by pupils from Forfar Academy. Pupils from all schools introduced the short film presentations that were created by each school on each of the books and why they deserved to win. The authors then spoke of their appreciation on being shortlisted for the Award. Finally the waiting was over and Zoe Innes and Gregor Smith of Forfar Academy opened the golden envelope and announced the winner.
This year's shortlist featured a broad range of subjects, evident in the variety of creative skills and ideas shown in the short film presentations produced by participating pupils, but the response of the audience showed that Forget Me Not had clearly caught the readers' imagination.
After recovering from the rush for signed copies of her book, a delighted Anne said, "Winning the Angus Award is very special. It's one of the oldest and the most prestigious local awards which hold children at its heart. For a writer an award like this gives them the chance to connect with their readership in a very real way. When my book FORGET ME NOT won I was delighted. Being a writer has its ups and downs, its good days and bad days. Winning the Angus Book Award was one of my good days."
Huge thanks to Forfar Academy for all the excellent support and great effort made in hosting this year's ceremony.
Winner and other short-listed authors with Zoe Innes and Gregor Smith of Forfar Academy