The Branford Boase Award based in Bishopstoke, UK spotlights debut children’s books for young readers aged 7 and older.
Children play in the fountain at More London in the pandemic year 2020. Image – iStockphoto; Alena Kravchenko
Seven Novels
Today’s announcement of the shortlist for the 2021 Branford Boase Award for debut authors includes the program’s first verse novel, a YA work by author Manjeet Mann.
Amid the annual avalanche of awards stories that rolls over the industry at this time of year, the Branford Boase is named for author Henrietta Branford and Wendy Boase, a co-founding editorial director of the UK’s Walker Books. Branford and Boase worked together on several books, and both women died with cancer in 1999. The award program was established in 2000 to recognize emerging talent in young people’s literature.
Covid-19: Why are half of England s highest infection rates in Essex?
By Phil Shepka, Laurence Cawley and Kris Holland
BBC News
image copyrightReuters
image captionEssex, along with London and parts of Hertfordshire, will be moved up to tier three from 00:01 GMT on Wednesday
Five of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of Covid-19 infections are in Essex. Why, and what happens next?
The latest round of coronavirus figures make grim reading for the people of Essex.
Thurrock currently has the highest infection rate in England - with more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.
But it is the increase in the rate that for many will be most troubling, rising from 387.2 cases per 100,000 in the week up until 9 December to 1,056 last week.