LONDON, December 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The winner of the 2016 Educational Writers' Award is THIS IS NOT A MATHS BOOK: A SMART ART ACTIVITY BOOK, written by Anna Weltman, and illustrated by Edward Cheverton and Ivan Hissey.
The result of this year's Award - the UK's sole award for creative educational writing - was announced this afternoon by Pete Wishart MP, at the All Party Parliamentary Writers Group (APWG) Winter Reception at the House of Commons. Wishart - Chair of the APWG, presented the winning author and illustrators with a cheque for £2,000.
Published by Ivy Kids, THIS IS NOT A MATHS BOOK is a multi-dimensional treasury of graphic activities and drawing challenges that have a mathematical basis. From simple geometric patterns to fractal art, anamorphic art, and Celtic knots, discover the beauty in maths, and the maths in beauty. Whether you're a maths whizz or just a daring doodler, this is an engrossing guide to smart art.
This year's judges - secondary school English teacher and author Jonathan Lomas; award-winning author and international expert on adolescence Nicola Morgan; and school librarian Nicky Ransley - were unanimous in their praise for the winning title:
"With superb design, this is maths made genuinely exciting - a brilliant page turner of a book which will quite literally give you a new and more beautiful perspective on life and learning. We particularly loved the fact that it is likely to engage people of any level of mathematical aptitude or reluctance, and yet it does so without jumping up and down and shoving a "maths is fun" message at the reader. It was genuinely pleasurable and mind-opening and you can't ask more of a book!"
Further information about the winning authors can be found in the Editor's Notes below.
The 2016 Educational Writers' Award focuses on books for 11-18 year olds, published in 2014 and 2015. THIS IS NOT A MATHS BOOK beat off strong competition from the two other titles shortlisted for this year's Award. They were OXFORD ILLUSTRATED SHAKESPEARE DICTIONARY, written by David & Ben Crystal and illustrated by Kate Bellamy (Oxford University Press), which was described by the judges as a "visually appealing treasure chest (that) is fun as well as informative, which gives a real insight into Shakespeare's language and the rich world of his plays with a wonderful variety of layout, colour and pace". And THE SCHOOL OF ART, written by Teal Triggs and illustrated by Daniel Frost (Wide Eyed Editions), described by the judges as "beautifully clear and light-hearted - but never childish, with the potential both to build artists, and help the rest of us understand the techniques of the artworks we encounter".
Now in its ninth year, the Educational Writers' Award was established in 2008 by the Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS) and the Society of Authors (SoA) "to celebrate educational writing that inspires creativity and encourages students to read widely and build up their understanding of a subject beyond the requirements of exam specifications".
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EDITOR'S NOTES
About the Winning Author & Illustrators
Anna Weltman is a teacher in California, USA, with a passion for teaching children about maths, showing how it is part of the world around us, and present in music and art. When not sharing her love of maths, Anna enjoys art, craft, cooking and making music.
Edward Cheverton is a Bristol-based artist and Illustrator. His work features collage, comics, mixed media, 3D, drawing and more. He loves to read comics, listen to Jazz and watch Star Trek. Ed also runs Postcard Club which promotes handmade postcard swaps between artists around the world, and the small press, Jazz Dad Books.
Ivan Hissey studied design and illustration at Brighton University and the Royal College of Art, and has illustrated continuously in a wide range of media for over 30 years. His illustrations, caricatures and cartoons have appeared in books and magazines of every description.
About the Judges
Jonathan Lomas spent 24 years teaching English and Drama at two leading state schools in London. For the past ten years he has been Head of English at La Retraite RC Girls' School in Clapham Park, and has recently been preparing schemes of work for the new curriculum in English. He is the author of audio revision guides for Smartpass on "Great Expectations", "Animal Farm" and "Othello" and has written four independently produced crime thrillers for Amazon. Brought up in Devon, he lives in South Wimbledon with his wife and young son.
Nicola Morgan is an award-winning author and international expert on adolescence, writing and speaking on topics surrounding reading, the brain, adolescent development and mental health, the effects of social media and the science of readaxation: reading for wellbeing. Her 2005 examination of the teenage brain, "Blame My Brain", was short-listed for the Aventis Prize for Science, and "The Teenage Guide to Stress" (2014) won the School Library Association award in both the readers' and the judges' categories. A former teacher and a dyslexia specialist, Nicola is also an award-winning novelist and plans to return to fiction eventually.
Nicky Ransley took a degree in Theology and spent several years in contemporary arts administration, bringing up four children, before qualifying as a librarian in 2001. Since then she has worked as a school librarian with students spanning the entire age range from 3 to 18, in both the private and maintained sectors. She is now the librarian at The Henrietta Barnett School, in North London.
The Society of Authors (SoA)
The Society of Authors is a trade union for all types of writers, illustrators and literary translators, and has been advising individuals and speaking out for the profession for more than a century. The SoA administers many other prizes and grants, including the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and the Betty Trask Award. It distributed more than £400,000 in prizes and grants in 2015.
http://societyofauthors.org
Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS)
Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is a not-for-profit organisation for the benefit of all types of writers. Owned by its members, the ALCS collects money due for secondary uses of writers' work. It is designed to support authors and their creativity, ensure they receive fair payment, and see their rights are respected. It promotes and teaches the principles of copyright and campaigns for a fair deal. Today we represent around 90,000 members, and since 1977 have paid over £400 million to writers.
http://www.alcs.co.uk
2016 Educational Writers' Award EWA16
