The winners of the HarperCollins Reading for Pleasure Awards 2024, in association with the Open University and the UK Literacy Association (UKLA), have been announced. Each year since its launch in 2017, the awards have recognised and celebrated teachers who are putting Reading for Pleasure at the heart of their classrooms in creative and innovative ways, to inspire children to read.  This year, Hannah Gold author of The Last Bear joined the judging panel as the guest judge.

The winners were awarded across six categories this year, with each category receiving £250 worth of books from across Farshore, HarperCollins Children’s Books, Collins and Barrington Stoke along with 20 copies of Help Your Child Love Reading by Alison David.

Early Career – WINNER: Charlotte Squirrell, Moorlands Church of England Primary Academy, Norfolk

Experienced Teacher – JOINT WINNERS: Chris Soul, Watford St John’s Church of England Primary

School, Watford and Imogen Maund, Caldecott Primary School, Oxfordshire and a HIGHLY COMMENDED to Claire Burton-Gardner, Turnfurlong Junior School, Buckinghamshire

School Reading Champion – JOINT WINNERS: Henrietta Englefield, Colfe’s Senior School, London and Kathryn Handley, The Sir Donald Bailey Primary Academy, Nottinghamshire

Whole School – WINNER: Lydgate Infant School, Sheffield submitted by Vikki Varley and Daisy Whitehead   

Community Reading Champion -JOINT WINNERS: Cathy Cook, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham and Simon Pollard, St Austell Festival of Children’s Literature, Cornwall

Author’s Choice – WINNER: Steeton Primary School, Yorkshire submitted by Claire Redman

Alison David, Consumer Insight Director at Farshore, said ‘We were so impressed with the entries; every year we think they can’t get much better, and they do! It’s a joy to know teachers and educators are focusing on reading for pleasure strategically and with so much imagination and creativity. To read about the impact on children and young people is a delight and cause for enormous optimism.’