The ABAs are now bigger than ever before. We started in 2011 with just 11 schools and now every year we have over 45 schools regularly taking part. Since 2011, and since our humble beginnings (they said modestly) we’ve had some of the very best young adult authors in the country, nay the world, reach our exulted shortlists.
Our previous gold award winners.
MIKE LANCASTER won in 2012 for the disturbingly brilliant 0.4. A dark and twisting tale, and a very worthy first golden winner for the inaugural ABAs.
TERI TERRY won in 2013 for the terrifyingly realistic vison of the near future Slated. We love Teri, she is a super friend of the ABAs, and has been nominated for the Long and Short Lists more times than any other author.
JUNO DAWSON is a double gold award winner author. That’s right, she won gold two years in a row. First in 2014 with the terrifying Hollow Pike and the again the following year, in 2015, for the deliciously dark Cruel Summer. No one else has yet “done the double” like Juno. Bravo!
CARLA SPRADBERY won the gold in 2016 with her stunning novel The 100 Society. Continuing our theme of all things dark and disturbing, this novel terrified, intrigued and fascinated us all in equal measure. We just loved it!
HOLLY BOURNE won gold in 2017 for Am I Normal Yet? This brilliantly funny and engaging book stole the hearts of all our of voting students. They loved it, and were so happy when Holly returned the following year to be our host, and they were able to meet her.
PENNY JOELSON won gold in 2018. Her tale of mystery and violence I have No Secrets was the run-away winner of the awards that year. For the first time we had over 4,000 students voting on the Shortlist, and whilst Silver and Bronze were as close at it is possible for them to be, Penny was nearly 50 points in the lead at the close of the voting.
M A BENNETT won our gold award in 2019 for the dark and terrifying S.T.A.G.S. None of us can wait to find out what happens next in one of the best literary cliff-hangers of the year. Very happily Marina will be returning as our host at the next ABAs in June 2021.
HOLLY JACKSON won gold this year (for 2020) for A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, in our roll-over 2021 awards. The thrillingly dark and twisted crime story had us all of the edge of our seats, and as one student said “It’s literally the best book I have read all year!” Great stuff!
DEAN ATTA also won gold this year 2021. His beautifully poignant and inspiring coming of age novel Black Flamingo, is about the power of identity and self-belief. Beautifully written this book was an instant hit with all of our students and staff alike. A very worthy gold award winner.
LIZ KESSLER won gold in 2022 for the thought provoking and utterly haunting When the World Was Ours. Inspired by a true story, When The World Was Ours is an extraordinary novel that is as powerful as it is heart-breaking, and shows how the bonds of love, family and friendship allow glimmers of hope to flourish, even in the most hopeless of times.
ALICE TALBOT won gold in 2023 for the dark and trilling Sixteen Souls. Scaring the pants off us but leaving us desperate for more Sixteen Souls tells the story of 17 year old Charlie, who having faced death himself can now see ghosts, some of whom are friendly, and some not. But those that are friendly are disappearing. Sam and his friends have a race on their hands finding out who is behind the disappearances and how they can stop themselves becoming the next victim. It’s a story of friendship, of acceptance and being true to yourself. A very worthy gold winner. We are delighted to announce that Alice will be our host in 2024.