Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Spark! Book Awards?

We are a book award where children vote to decide on their winners! 

Run by a registered charity, in partnership with OU RfP, our aim is that all children love reading and our awards are just one way to engage them. 

We also believe that all children should see themselves and their diverse communities in the books they read and we hope our chosen books reflect this. 

What is the Spark! Book Fund?

When everyone in school is talking about our shortlisted books, we don't want any children to miss out. Our Book Fund raises money to give free copies of these books to those with lesser access to them, as nominated by their teachers. You can find out more or donate on our Book Fund page.

What do schools get through participation?

Through your participation, we hope all children (and staff) get a buzz about books. In addition to copies of the shortlisted books, we also arrange online author events with each of the shortlisted authors, giving children the change to hear directly from them and ask their own burning questions.

We also host competitions, have an annual magazine, in addition to access to our Book Fund and time limited discounts on the shortlists for your school communities.

We also name one lucky school, who we feel has shown outstanding engagement in the awards, as our Spark! School of the Year!

What will I need to do?

We provide the overall structure and resources for the awards but you are the ones who make it happen and inspire children. 

First and foremost, you'll need to decide the level of engagement with the awards, who will be involved and how it will work in your context.

Check out our blog for some ideas from schools who have already taken part. 

How does voting work?

In the second half of the summer term we ask all participating schools to send us their children's ranked order of the shortlisted books. Each position has a score that's used to determine the winners of the awards. 

Each school only gets one vote though, so we strongly encourage you to host your own whole school voting event to determine your winners, before atten ding our award ceremony to see if other schools shared your children's favourites. 

What does it cost?

There's a small cost of £65 per category, which covers everything we provide through our awards.

All of the money raised through participation is put back into the awards, either in what we do or added to our Spark! Book Fund.