The votes have been counted, the trophies presented and the winners revealed of the Red House Children's Book Awards 2009. The event took place at Birmingham's Botanical Gardens and played host to Walker authors William Bee, Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman. Matt Whyman and Petr Horacek were also there signing books.
The Red House Children's Book Award is the only award judged solely by children, and The Pencil and Beware of the Frog came in as the top two titles in the picture book category, with The Pencil going on to win, beating Beware of the Frog, A Lark in the Ark (Peter Bentley and Lynne Chapman) and The Three Horrid Pigs and the Big Friendly Wolf (Liz Pichon). Allan and Bruce were thrilled and received the traditional albums made by the children, as well as silver bookmarks.
The overall prize went to the teen fiction category winner, Sophie McKenzie for Blood Ties.
So a big Hurrah for The Pencil and congratulations all round.