The Roald Dahl Funny Prize was founded in 2008 by Michael Rosen as part of his Children’s Laureateship. It is the first prize of its kind: founded to honour those books that simply make children laugh. There are two categories: for children aged six and under, and for children aged seven to fourteen.
For children aged six and under, the winning book was Mr Pusskins Best in Show by Sam Lloyd (Orchard Books). For children aged seven to fourteen, the winning book was Grubtown Tales: Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky by Philip Ardagh, illustrated by Jim Paillot (Faber and Faber).
The winners were presented with a cheque for £2,500 and a bottle of wine from Roald Dahl’s personal wine cellar.
Everyone attending the ceremony at the packed Unicorn Theatre, the UK’s flagship theatre for young people, was awarded with laughter and hilarity highly fitting to the spirit of the award. Booktrust chief executive, Viv Bird, opened the event, setting the tone of the day with a humorous quotation from ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ before handing over to chair of judges, Michael Rosen. The latter talked about the history of the prize, the need for humour, imagination and lateral thinking in children’s stories and the gap there Roald Dhad been in the prizes calendar until the establishment of the ahl Funny Prize. Much witty repartee ensued between Michael, co-judges, Andy Stanton and Bill Bailey and the children from Lonesome and Wivelsfield Primary schools, who had run their own short-list competitions. Bill Bailey’s impromptu running banter while the films made by the schools were got ready for screening was hilarious. Bill also closed the session with some humorous, imaginative and lateral questions that only a five year old son would come up with at breakfast time.
The audience ended up in stitches.
Editorial