Winners of the 2012 Roald Dahl Funny Prize are My Big Shouting Day by Rebecca Patterson (six-and-under category) and Dark Lord: Teenage Years by Jamie Thomson (seven-to-fourteen category). Each received a check for £2,500 (US$3,994).
Chair of judges Michael Rosen commented: "I'm very proud of the fact that this is the fifth year of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, an award I cooked up when I was Children's Laureate in order to celebrate books that make children laugh. That's five years worth of books which are written with fun and enjoyment in mind. We know that reading for pleasure is an engine for attainment and achievement in all walks of life. Children, parents, teachers, librarians and all concerned with reading can find a rich vein of books for all ages in the back lists of this Prize, and this year's shortlists and winners are engaging, fascinating and above all, very funny."
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Thomas Wright won the £25,000 (US$39,961) Wellcome Trust Book Prize, which honors a work of fiction or nonfiction a health or medical theme, for Circulation: William Harvey's Revolutionary Idea, the Associated Press (via the Washington Post) reported.
Mark Lawson, who chaired the judging panel, said the book "combines scholarly science with such narrative excitement that it will be a great surprise if we do not eventually see Circulation: The Movie."
