After losing out on the Costa to that Riddell bloke The Hanged Man Rises has been longlisted for the Sussex ABAs.

The ABAs, or to give it its full name, The Sussex Coast Schools Amazing Book Awards, is a book award set up at the start of 2011 by a small group of school librarians from West Sussex. The group felt that secondary school students, particularly those in years nine and ten, were so often overlooked by those bigger book awards, which frequently aim themselves at students in lower years. The ABAs is your chance to let your students take control. Although we, with the help of the publishers and nominations from participating school librarians, create the long list, the students choose the shortlist of 5 and also vote for their favourites. There is no overall veto or “panel vote”, the books chosen by the students are the winners.

The shortlist is announced the 10th Feb and Presentation Night is the 11th July.  Wish me luck….