Self-published Author Wins YoungMinds Book Award

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Congratulations to self-published author Siobhan Curham for winning the YoungMinds Book Award 2010. Curham has beaten titles from major publishing houses like Puffin, Headline and Egmont to take the award, announced at an awards ceremony on the16th November. The YoungMinds Award is given to a book which most helps young people aged 12+ deal with the issues and pressures of growing up.
Curham's novel Dear Dylan (Authorhouse) is about a fourteen year old girl who begins writing letters to a soap star. The novel had some really stiff competition on the shortlist with books like Inside by J. A. Jarman, The Truth About Leo by David Yelland, and Zellah Green, Queen of Clean by Vanessa Curtis. On her own blog, Siobhan admitted that she thought she had no chance of winning, so was still a bit speechless. For her clearly stellar effort in Dear Dylan, Siobhan has received a £2000.00 prize sponsored by the reading charity BookTrust (the same folks who sponsor the Roald Dahl Funny Prize.)
Below is the link to Siobhan's blog, which in addition to her musings on winning the award, also has some brilliant pages on her writing and how to publish. Great words of encouragement!
http://www.siobhancurham.co.uk/

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