Kick wins Branford Boase Award

A timely story set in a football boot factory with a socially-charged focus, Kick by Mitch Johnson, has won this year's Branford Boase Award for debut writers and their editors, Rebecca Hill and Becky Walker of Usborne.

Author Mitch Johnson hopes his success with Kick will encourage readers to investigate the use of child workers in sweatshops It is the first time Usborne has won the Branford Boase Award but the children's publisher has already won the YA Book Prize with After the Fire by Will Hill and the 2018 CILIP Carnegie Medal for Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean. Sharon Cohen and her editor Sarah Lambert were also Highly Commended by the judges for Cohen's debut book, The Starman and Me. The Branford Boase Award is unique in acknowledging the importance of the editor, and is recognised as one of the most important awards in children's books thanks to its impressive record in identifying authors with special talent at the start of their careers. Kick tells the story of Budi, a young boy working in a footwear factory in Jakarta. His family are poor and the working conditions in the factory very hard, but Budi remains positive and optimistic, dreaming of life as a professional footballer. Johnson was inspired to write the story when he found a crumpled energy gel sachet in a shoebox between a brand new pair of football boots and began to wonder who had left it there. Later, as he channel-hopped between Match of the Day and a programme protesting the use of sweatshops, the disparity between star footballers and garment workers compelled him to highlight the issue, and he began writing Kick. Last year's winner, M.G. (Maya) Leonard, a judge for the 2018 award, said, "Kick is a skillfully written and perfectly paced. Mitch Johnston has produced a fantastically original debut that champions hope, dogged optimism in the face of adversity, and friendship. "This book needs to be on the bookshelf of every school library, not just because it will encourage empathy, but because it's a great book. Mitch Johnston is definitely one to watch." Johnson said that winning the award was "a wonderfully surreal experience". "Kick is a novel that I came close to abandoning on several occasions, but the thought that kept me going was that perhaps one day my book would get published, and perhaps if it got published someone might read it, and perhaps if someone read it they might question the way things are made. "The plight of garment workers is a global issue affecting millions of people, and yet somehow it manages to remain largely out of sight. My hope is that Kick will make this problem more visible, and winning the Branford Boase will undoubtedly encourage more readers to find out about the subject for themselves, and for this I am extremely grateful." He also thanked his editors, Rebecca Hill and Becky Walker, who shared his passion for telling Budi's story. "Their insight, expertise, and sensitivity improved Kick immeasurably, and I am thrilled that the Branford Boase acknowledges the crucial role they played in making this book a success." Johnson added that winning has encouraged him to keep writing books "that introduce young readers to complex social issues". "I am so happy that the judging panel has chosen to champion a book that has hopes and dreams at its heart; I always hoped that one day my writing might be recognized by such a prestigious award, but I never dreamed that it would become a reality." Sharon Cohen and her editor Sarah Lambert were Highly Commended for The Starman and Me, about a boy who makes friends with a tiny, prehistoric human and tries to help him. Leonard said: "The Starman and Me is a well told tale grown from the seed of an ingenious idea, and it grabs you on page one. We're all excited to see what Sharon Cohen writes next." Chair of the judges, Julia Eccleshare, said, "At a time when many children's books seem to be looking inward, Mitch Johnson has written a book about a global issue, encouraging children to think about the way the world works, and even how they could effect change. But each of the seven books on our shortlist would be worthy winners of the award and are proof of the talent of children's writers and editors in 2018." Previous winners of the Branford Boase award include Frances Hardinge, Marcus Sedgwick, Mal Peet, Siobhan Dowd and Kevin Brooks. This year's judges included Urmi Merchant of children's bookshop Pickled Pepper Books; Helen Swinyard, librarian at Heartlands High School and founder of the Haringey Children's Book Award; author and reviewer Philip Womack; and M.G. (Maya) Leonard, author of Beetle Boy, winner of the 2017 Branford Boase Award. The panel is chaired by Julia Eccleshare, childrens director of the Hay Festival.