Southern Schools Book Award

The Southern Schools Book Award was created to recognise the fantastic Young Adult books that are published every year, and to give students the chance to have their say on which is the best.

WINNER 2023

This Book Kills

Guron, Ravena ISBN: 9781803705415
Paperback / softback

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"I'll make it clear from the start: I did not kill Hugh Henry Van Boren. I didn't even help. Well, not intentionally." When Hugh Henry Van Boren, one of the most popular and richest kids in Jess Choudhary's school, is found dead, the student body is left reeling and wondering who the murderer could be...

Jess, a student under strict instructions to keep her record clean or risk losing her scholarship, finds herself at the centre of the investigation when it's revealed that Hugh died in the exact same way as a character in a short story she wrote. And then Jess receives an anonymous text thanking her for the inspiration. With time running out, Jess knows if she doesn't solve this mystery she'll finally have something in common with Hugh Henry. She'll be dead too.

- Browns Books Synopsis

SHORTLIST 2024

Casale, Alexia ISBN: 9780571373802
Paperback / softback

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Furniss, Clare ISBN: 9781471169816
Paperback / softback

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James-Mackey, Tess ISBN: 9781444967937
Paperback / softback

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Wills, S.J. ISBN: 9781398520943
Paperback / softback

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Holness, Nevin ISBN: 9780241635452
Paperback / softback

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Highly Commended

The Agency for Scandal

Wood, Laura ISBN: 9780702303241
Paperback / softback

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An all-female detective agency righting wrongs at the end of the nineteenth century; infiltrating a scandalous upper class world straight out of Bridgerton and using their wit and bravery to unmask a villain. Eighteen-year-old Isobel Stanhope is keeping a lot of secrets. There's the fact that she's head over heels in love with a Duke who doesn't know she exists; there's the fact that her family is penniless but nobody in society knows about it; and then there's her job at the Aviary, an investigative agency run by women that specializes in digging up scandal on powerful men. When Izzy finds herself pulled into a case that involves gaslighting, blackmail, and missing jewels, as well as the Duke who holds her heart, can she and her friends untangle the web of secrets and lies to uncover the truth and protect the innocent? And when the stakes are so high, what happens when the crush she's been hiding begins to turn into so much more? 

- Browns Books Synopsis