Every year, the Whitbread Book Awards look for two young people - aged between 11 and 15 - to join the judging panel that decides the shortlist for the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year, one of the most prestigious awards in children’s writing.

This year, Whitbread ran the competition with CBBC Newsround, one of the most popular sources for news and documentary reports for young people in the UK. Capitalising on Whitbread’s overall theme of enjoyment, children were asked - through the TV programme and the website - to submit a review of not more than 200 words of a book they had recently enjoyed.

In one of CBBC Newsround’s most popular competitions, hundreds of children entered their reviews to win the chance to not only be a part of the judging process, but also to win tickets to the exclusive awards ceremony next year AND a chance to report on the process for CBBC Newsround’s Presspackers’ slot. The children will also be offered the opportunity to submit a review for publication in “Young Writer” magazine.

The winners were chosen by last year’s Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year winner, Jamila Gavin. They are thirteen year-old Annalisa Middleton from Norwich and eleven year-old Harry Cheetham from Macclesfield. Both Annalisa and Harry are already enjoying dealing with their new-found fame, with several local papers and radio stations profiling the talented youngsters.

Watch this space for further details on the shortlist!

Previous young judges
1996: Cameron Queen and Ela Stevenson (competition in The Times's 1015 supplement)
1997: Maria Adey and Sally Inwood (competition in The Times's 1015 supplement)
1998: Elliot Ross and Katherine Westall (nationwide book review competition in regional newspapers)
1999: John Boucher, Kate Lawrence and Laura Southall (Key Stage 3 winners of the Rave Reviews book review competition in the Times Educational Supplement)
2000: Eleanor Pullan and Adam Usden (review competition on amazon.co.uk)