Design a Book Cover Competition - The winning design!
The judging panel looked through hundreds of fantastic designs but in the end came to a unanimous decision. The winner of the 2011/12 Design a Book Cover Competition is...
... Tsukasa from Ashmole Academy who created a stunning design for The Name of This Book is Secret! Well done to Tsukasa who will be receiving a huge parcel of 64 books in the next few days.
Tsukasa explained how she created her winning design:
"My ideas for the cover design were based on the secret aspect of the story. I used dark colours because they are mysterious and cool. The characters depicted on the cover are Cassandra and Max-Ernest. I decided to draw them in manga style as I like reading this genre too! To create the cover I used Photoshop CS4, Paint Tool SAI and my own drawings scanned onto a printer."
Alison Bugg, librarian at Ashmole Academy said:
"Booked Up is a fantastic initiative and every year it causes great excitement amongst the Year 7 pupils. It gives the pupils not only the opportunity to choose a book but to keep it for free! The Booked Up website has some brilliant ideas and resources that can be incorporated into Year 7 library lessons."
To see all the winning designs visit the Design a Book Cover gallery
Thank you to everyone who sent in an entry to the Design a Book Cover competition. We received over 800 of your designs and the standard was extremely high. We got so many brilliant...
TOP SECRET COMPETITION
There is not a top secret competition on the Booked Up website.
We are not giving you the chance to win four books in the Secret series by Pseudonymous Bosch.
Do not go to the competition page to enter by Friday 16 December.
Complete the sentence competition - the winners!
In September we asked you to tell us why you thought Booked Up was a great idea. We received over 800 entries, and after careful consideration we have selected the ten winning entries:
I think Booked Up is a great idea because...
'... letting me choose my own book has given me the chance to decide which books draw me in. I surprised myself by finding I wanted to read a new kind of book. I would never have chosen to read it had I been in a book shop. I LOVE IT.'
Charlotte, Bowland High School
'Everyone keeps telling me girls read more books than boys, but Booked Up has made me want to read tons of books. So I'm hoping to inspire more of my classmates, I mean the boys, and change what people say!'
Marcus, Henley High School
'... it gives us children a chance to escape from our manic "changing from children to teenagers" life and step into the world of fantasy. A really good book can make you cry...yet laugh at the same time! Well done Booked Up!'
Rachael, Cardinal Allen Catholic High School
'... it shows children that reading books can be fun if you find the right book, you can really get into it, then you'll find a whole selection of books that you'll enjoy that you never knew they even existed.'
Imogen, Huish Episcopi
"... it will make me feel better in the library and more comfortable with books. The school will give away free books so I get a bigger picture (first impresion) of the school and t...
Kick off your reading!
If you're a football fan you've got something in common with Jamie Johnson - star of The Kick Off and the rest of the books in the Jamie Johnson series.
And you've got something in common with Dan Freedman too! Read Dan's blog to find out what happened when he told Steven Gerrard he was leaving his job as a journalist at the FA to become a children's author - exclusive to Booked Up!
Read Dan Freedman's blog
And when you've read the blog, why not enter our competition to win a complete set of the Jamie Johnson books signed by Dan Freedman! Three lucky winners will each win five signed books, to be in with a chance all you have to do is answer a question about The Kick Off by Friday 2 December.
Enter the competition
Design a book cover competition!
You’ve seen the Booked Up book covers. Think you can do better? Try your hand at book jacket design and you could win a complete set of the Booked Up books from the last five years - that's 60 books!
You can enter online, by email or by post so fire up your computer, or grab your pens and pencils and give it a go!
The deadline for entries is Friday 16 December so you've got almost seven weeks to create your work of art. Why not check out last year's winner and runners up to get inspiration: Winners' gallery
Remember, the cover must be for one of this year's Booked Up books.
To find out more about entering, including our online drawing tool, visit the competition page.
Good luck!
Artichoke Hearts blog and competition
If you're a fan of Artichoke Hearts, you'll be fascinated to read our exclusive blog by Sita Brahmachari in which she describes the recipe that led her to create Artichoke Hearts, and asks what ingredients might go into your story!
Read Sita's blog
And if that wasn't enough, we're also offering you the chance to win five fab books about family and friendship. To be in with a chance all you have to do is answer a question about Artichoke Hearts...
Enter the competition
The competition closes on Friday 21 October.
Happy National Poetry Day!
Today is National Poetry Day, and here on the Booked Up website there are lots of ways you can get involved!
Number 1: Read the blog by Booked Up poets Grace Nichols and John Agard to find out how Pumpkin Grumpkin, their book of nonsense poetry, came about. It includes some of their favourite nonsense poems too!
Number 2: Enter our competition and you could win a copy of Orange Silver Sausage, a collection of poems without rhymes, complete with notes on how to write and perform your own poems without rhymes.
And if you just can't get enough poetry, check out Booktrust's top ten poetry books. What do you think of the list? Tell us your favourite poetry books by adding a comment below!
Complete the Sentence competition
Returning for a second year, the Complete the Sentence competition is now open!
We are asking Year 7s to tell us why Booked Up is a great idea, and in return you could win a set of Booked Up books for your school, and an extra book for you too!
You can see last year's winning entries here
So be inspired, get creative, and tell us why Booked Up is great!
Enter the competition
The competition closes on Friday 30 September so you have just a few days left to complete the sentence!
