The category winners and the overall winner have just been announced. There were some excellent titles on the shortlists and I was particularly impressed by John Toomey's 'Slipping' (winner in the fiction section) and Jaq Hazell's young adult novel 'My Life as a Bench' which was our overall winner.
It was hard work reading so many titles covering such diverse topics, but it was good to have my mind stretched on subjects I would not normally give much attention to, as well as sharing views with Jeff and Jo as we worked towards a consensus.
Well done to all the winners!
Gaynor will be joining Jeff Phelps and Jo Derrick on the judging panel for the 2017 award.
Please see http://www.ruberybookaward.com for more details of the competition and deadlines.
Gaynor's picks for the Curated Shelf project at Oxfam in King's heath are now online at :
https://oxfambham.wordpress.com/2015/10/21/the-curated-shelf/
The short list and three winners I have chosen are now on the Rubery Book Award website: http://www.ruberybookaward.com
The standard was very high and the three winners (Gregory J Wolos, Melissa Beit and Lucy E M Black) were very accomplished.
Rachel Cronin has won the competition with a photo illustrating a theme from Joel Lane's work. (see www.lostdistricts).
The prize is given by Tindal Street Fiction Group in memory of Joel, who died just a year ago