National Book Tokens, a group company of the Booksellers Association (BA), has announced the winners of the annual Design a National Book Token Competition, as part of the organisation’s sponsorship of World Book Day.
Launched over 20 years ago and with four million entries since then, Design a National Book Token invites children to share their creativity – and their love for books and reading – by designing their own gift cards.
This year’s theme was “Read Your Way”, aligning with the charity’s campaign by the same name. Children were asked to think about what this phrase meant to them, and how they could explain that in pictures, and consider what would make someone want to buy their gift card.
Judged this year by Jamie Smart, author and illustrator of the Bunny Vs Monkey series (David Fickling Books), this year’s competition received upwards of 5,000 entries. For the first time, the designs were revealed in First News, an award-winning weekly national UK newspaper for children.
Eight-year-old Reva and seven-year-old Grace were among the winners, alongside nine-year-old Jasper. In the older age categories, the winners were 11-year-old Harriet, 15-year-old Ankita and 15-year-old Ethan, who was also the overall winner.
The six winners will receive hundreds of pounds worth of National Book Tokens for their schools and themselves. In addition, Ethan as the overall winner will receive a £10/€10 National Book Tokens gift card in his winning design for every child in his class, plus a visit to a local bookshop.
Since the competition launched, over £50,000 worth of National Book Tokens have been gifted to winners and their respective schools.
Lisa Bywater, head of marketing at National Book Token, said: “Having proudly sponsored World Book Day for 28 years, we’re proud to be united with them in their mission to encourage more children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to have a lifelong habit of reading for pleasure, and the improved life chances this brings them […] We can’t wait to see the winners (and their classmates) using their winning National Book Tokens to reaffirm or inspire a love of reading while supporting their local bookshops, which themselves play such an important role in the vital mission of children’s literacy.”
Smart added: “While the challenge of falling child reading levels is a real one, whenever I see children’s artwork at my signing events I am always reminded of the mind-blowing creativity, imagination and talent on display. Often, and especially for those who may be struggling initially with reading, illustration and drawing is a wonderful and accessible gateway for those children to overcome these initial struggles and find a way of reading that works for them.”
