Our theme for 2025 was Isle Read That
The 2025 Awards Ceremony
The eagerly anticipated Page Turners Book Award Gala took place at Weald of Kent on the 27th of March. We were delighted to welcome around 200 students from 12 local schools to the event, which was made possible by sponsorship from Zuri Cyber Security & IT Support and Warners Solicitors, and some generous donations from parents. Representatives from both companies joined us for this annual celebration of the joys of books and reading and enjoyed the challenge of judging the highly imaginative entries for the Fancy Dress competition, choosing a Cranbrook School student dressed as an undead sea creature as the winner, inspired by the book ‘The Haunting of Aveline Jones’. Mr Booth had the difficult task of judging the Creative Response competition and he chose an incredible cake made by a student from Bethany School, inspired by the book ‘S.T.A.G.S.’ from an amazing range of entries. The stage was lavishly decorated with props suggested by the shortlisted titles, including many made by our readers as part of their book club activities.
Over the past few months, the students have been reading a fantastic shortlist of 12 books on the theme ‘Isle Read That: A Literary Journey Around the British Isles’ and they were excited to watch specially recorded videos from 7 of the shortlisted authors who talked about the importance of setting in their work as well as recommending a favourite book. We were also thrilled to have 3 authors join us in person- Catherine Johnson, Simon James Green and M.A. Bennett. They also spoke about the settings of their books and then participated in a lively Q&A session with lots of excellent questions from the very enthusiastic audience! Readers were excited to be able to meet and chat to the authors in the interval, when they also enjoyed refreshments and browsed the event bookstall, run by our wonderful partners, Sevenoaks Bookshop. All students attending received a special Page Turners book token worth £7.99 to spend at the bookstall, enabling everyone to go home with a new book of their choice.
The highlight of the evening was the announcement of the winning book, revealed to much excitement as ‘S.T.A.G.S.’ by M.A. Bennett. This was definitely the Weald favourite and was made even more special by having the author herself present to accept her trophy in person! Marina was absolutely delighted to win and generously stayed on at the end to answer more questions and pose for photos with her eager fans.
“The Page Turners Gala was amazing, I loved how we heard from so many of the authors and learned more about the books. The live authors were really friendly and I enjoyed the costumes and finding out the winner at the end”
“I really enjoyed the Page Turners Gala because I got to meet some of the authors of the books and I enjoyed hearing more about their writing. It was also fun to spend time with my friends out of school and meet people from other schools who also enjoy reading.”
“It was amazing! I met M.A. Bennett and she signed my book! We asked the authors questions and they talked about their books. It was fun to see everyone’s creative responses and costumes”
“We were really happy that our favourite book won and the author was there to collect her trophy! We also loved how engaging all the authors were when they spoke to us. We loved the opportunity to grab a new book for our collections at the book stall. In conclusion, it was an amazing experience and we would recommend it to everyone for next year”
“I love that I got to see some of the authors in person, I’m glad we got to ask them questions and hear their funny answers! I really liked that the authors of the other books could be on video. I’m glad I had this chance.”
“I loved Page Turners as I read books I wouldn’t otherwise have picked up and I loved getting to meet the authors. I’m really happy that my favourite book won and Marina was there to collect her prize! I am so glad I got the opportunity to come, I loved it!”
“The gala was super enjoyable and inspirational and it was great to meet a lot of people with the same interests”.
The shortlist and winner
Books 2025
Why don’t you join in the fun too?
We would love to welcome other South East secondary schools to our book award!
Pooling our ideas, experience, resources and enthusiasm is a great way to introduce reading for pleasure activities into your school
or take them to the next level.
Contact us via the link below if you would like to find out more about how to join in the fun.