We are pleased to announce the winners of the Simone Wood Award for 2009. The Simone Wood Award was put together by as a memorial for Simone Wood by her family, and is the first memorial award to be put together and hosted on our website. We were very excited when Simone Wood's family came to us with their idea for a memorial award that celebrated the things in life that Simone Wood loved, dance and children. The entire award has been generously donated by the family members, and Sharing Books has been honoured to be a part of this family legacy.

All the books submitted for the Simone Wood Award were children's books themed and focused on dance, dance culture, and the freedom of expression that comes with dance. Only books focused on dance and published through Sharing Books from April 3rd, 2009 to May 31st, 2009 were originally targeted for acceptance, but due to some server issues we extended the acceptance window to June 5, 2009. Award winners are determined by the highest number of downloads during the month of June, 2009. We thank all the authors, illustrators, and book creators who submitted dance themed work to the site.

Here, without further adieu, are the winners of the Simone Wood Award:

1. 1st Place: Zoo Dance, authored by JR Poulter and illustrated by Jade Potts.
2. 2nd Place: My Pretty Pointe Shoes, authored by Timothy Schenk and illustrated by Timothy Schenk.
3. 3rd Place: Whop Bop Menagiere, authored by JR Poulter and illustrated by Joy Steuerwald.

Congratulations to our award winners!

The first place award is $300, second place will recieve $200, and third place will recieve $100, to be split evenly between the authors and illustrators.

Labels: awards, contest, dance, Simone Wood