The Booktrust Teenage Prize has consistently raised awareness of the very best writing for young adults.

Launched in 2003 to recognise and celebrate contemporary fiction written for teenager, the prize (which is judged by a mixed panel of adults and teenagers) has in the words of former judge Matt Whyman 'fast become the benchmark for quality young people's fiction in the UK.'

Previous winners are Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Sarah Singleton's Century, Anne Cassidy's Looking for JJ and Anthony McGowan's Henry Tumour.

2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize Winner - Patrick Ness

2007 judges Angela Wilkinson, librarian (Chair) Tom Gatti, associate editor, Times Books Anthony McGowan, author Isabelle Ellis-Cockcroft, school student

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (Walker)- Winner

Imagine you're the only boy in a town of men. And you can hear everything they think. And they can hear everything you think. Imagine you don't fit in with their plans... Todd Hewitt is just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man. But his town has been keeping secrets from him. Secrets that are going to force him to run. More

About the Author
Patrick Ness is the author of two other critically acclaimed works of fiction, The Crash of Hennington and Topics About Which I Know Nothing. An award-winning novelist, he has also written for Radio 4, the Sunday Telegraph and is currently a literary critic for the Guardian. This is his first book for young adults. More - Patrick Ness's Diary | Interview with Patrick Ness in the Times

2008 Prize Other Shortlisted

The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner

A thrillingly exciting, action-packed novel about a boy destined to be a hero of the French Revolution. The story of a remarkable boy called Yann Margoza; Tetu the dwarf, his friend and mentor; Sido, unloved daughter of a foolish

Marquis... More

About the Author
Sally Gardner trained at art college and went on to work in the theatre, winning awards for her costume designs for some notable productions. After her twin daughters and her son were born she started to illustrate children's books, and then turned to writing. She lives in North London.

Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz (Walker)

Splashing down off the coast of Australia, Alex is soon working undercover - this time for ASIS, the Australian Secret Service - on a mission to infiltrate the criminal underworld of South-East Asia: the ruthless world of the Snakehead. Faced with an old enemy and troubled by his own past, Alex is caughtbetween two secret services. More

About the Author
Anthony Horowitz is the creator of the phenomenal Alex Rider books and the bestselling Power of Five series and wasrecently voted the 2007 BA/Nielsen Author of the Year. He won the 2006 British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year for Ark Angel and the 2003 Red House Children's Book of the Year Award for Skeleton Key. Anthony, who wrote the script for the Alex Rider movie Stormbreaker, also writes extensively for TV, with credits including Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War. He lives in Clerkenwell, London.

Apache by Tanya Landman (Walker
Siki is an orphan of the Black Mountain Apache. Her mother was killed by Mexicans three years ago andher father lost in an ambush the winter before that. When Siki witnesses the brutal murder of her little brother Tazhi, she vows to become an Apache warrior and avenge her brother's death. More

Tanya Landman runs Storybox Theatre, a touring puppet theatre for children, with her husband Rod Burnett. She isthe author of the junior novel Waking Merlin (978-1-4063-0250-9) and its sequel Merlin's Apprentice (978-1-4063-0201-1); Flotsam and Jetsam (978-1-84428-119-0) and its sequel Flotsam and Jetsam and the Stormy Surprise (978-1-4063-0280-6); and The World's Bellybutton (978-1-4063-0089-5). Tanya has two children and lives in Devon.

Creature of the Night by Kate Thompson (Bodley Head)

When Bobby's mother moves the family into a rented house in the country, a neighbour tells him that a child was once murdered there. Bobby doesn't care. All he wants is to get back to Dublin and to resume his wild life there, stealing from the crowded shopping streets and racing stolen cars at night. More

About the Author
Kate Thompson is one of the most exciting authors writing for young people today for she is a born storyteller, highly original and thought provoking in her ideas. She has travelled widely in the USA and India and studied law in London. After living in County Clare, she moved to Kinvara in County Galway and it was there that she discovered her passion for playing the fiddle.She is now an accomplished player and also has a great interest in restoring instruments. Kate is a multi-award winning author and the only author to win the Children's Books Ireland Bisto Book of the Year award four times. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The Knife That Killed Me by Anthony McGowan (Definitions)

When Paul ends up delivering a message from Roth to the leader of a gang at a nearby school, it fuels a rivalry with immediate consequences. Paul attempts to distance himself from the feud, but when Roth hands him a knife, it both empowers him and scares him at the same time. More

About the Author
Anthony McGowan was born in Manchester in 1965. Educated at a Catholic comprehensive, he won't say that his character's schooldays are exactly based on his own but he certainly writes from experience. Before turning to writing full-time, Anthony gained a PhD in Philosophy, worked as a nightclub bouncer, an Open University tutor, a journalist and a civil servant. He is married with two children. In 2006 he won the Teenage Booktrust Prize for Henry Tumour, which was also shortlisted for the Sheffield Children's Book Award, Lancashire Children's Book of the Year Award, Redbridge Teenage Book Award and the Catalyst Award.

2007 Prize

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Winner: Marcus Sedgwick My Swordhand is Singing (Orion).

n original interpretation of the timelessly fascinating vampire myth, and a story of father and son. In the bitter cold of an unrelenting winter Tomas and his son, Peter, arrive in Chust and despite the inhospitability of the villagers settle... More

Theresa Breslin The Medici Seal (Doubleday)
Kate Cann Leaving Poppy (Scholastic)
Mal Peet The Penalty (Walker Books)
Philip Reeve Here Lies Arthur (Scholastic)
Meg Rosoff Just in Case (Penguin)

2006 Prize

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Winner; Anthony McGowan for Henry Tumour

Hector Brunty, has a dilemma: a talking brain tumour. Henry Tumour advises Hector on haircuts, high-fashion, and tactics for snogging the best-looking girl in school, Uma Upshaw. Can Hector overpower his tumour in order to get what he really wants .. More

2006 shortlist

Siobhan Dowd A Swift Pure Cry (David Fickling Books)
Ally Kennen Beast (Scholastic Books)
Paul Magrs Exchange (Simon and Schuster)
Marcus Sedgwick The Foreshadowing (Orion)
John Singleton Angel Blood (Puffin)

2005 prize

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Winner
Century by Sarah Singleton (Simon and Schuster)

Mercy and her sister Charity have never questioned their daily routine. They live at night, sleep during the day, and see their widowed father only rarely. Then one day, Mercy is woken to find a snowdrop on her pillow. A sign of spring... More

Other shortlisted titles
The Whisper by Bali Rai (Corgi)
Come Clean by Terri Paddock (HarperCollins)
Siberia by Ann Halam (Orion)
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (Penguin)
The Unrivalled Spangles by Karen Wallace (Simon and Schuster)
Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill (Young Picador)

2004 prize

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Winner
Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy (Scholastic)

This title explores the circumstances and motives behind the murder of a child - by her friend. Six years later, JJ has now been released, and has a new identity. But is there any way that she can lead a "normal" life? More

Other shortlisted titles
Fat Boy Swim by Catherine Forde (Egmont)
Rani and Sukh by Bali Rai (Corgi)
Boy Kills Man by Matt Whyman (Hodder)
The Opposite of Chocolate by Julie Bertagna (Macmillan)

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The Dark Beneath by Alan Gibbons (Orion)
Unique by Alison Allen-Gray (Oxford University Press).
Deep Secret by Berlie Doherty (Puffin)

2003 prize

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Winner
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (David Fickling Books)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's, a form of autism. He knows a very great deal about maths and... More

Other shortlisted titles
Doing It by Melvin Burgess (Andersen Press)
Lucas by Kevin Brooks (The Chicken House)
The Dungeon by Lynne Reid Banks (HarperCollins)
The Edge by Alan Gibbons (Orion)
Caught in the Crossfire by Alan Gibbons (Orion)
Malarkey by Keith Gray (Red Fox)

2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize Winner - Patrick Ness

2005 prize

2004 prize

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2003 prize

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