Oscar's First Book Prize is such a personal, touching award. I so admire Oscar’s family for starting something that’s a really positive celebration of his life – thousands of people across the UK now know his name, and I’m so honoured to be part of it, as well as being part of a fantastic celebration of picture books. Each book on the shortlist is so brilliant!

To have won is very moving.

Oscar's First Book Prize, which is sponsored by Waitrose, is designed to find the best first book a child might pick up on their own, and was launched last year in memory of Oscar Ashton, Evening Standard’s executive editor and columnist James Ashton’s son, who was three-and-a-half when he sadly died of a heart condition in December 2012.

The awards ceremony took place last night at Hubbard & Bell, and the prize was presented to me by the lovely Gillian Anderson.

It was a real pleasure to meet and chat with Oscar's parents and grandparents. It was also great to chat to everyone else on the shortlist, Richard Byrne, Tim Warnes, Lucy Tapper, Steve Wilson and Victoria Turnbill (a fellow MA grad).

Below is today's article in the Evening Standard. You can read the full article online HERE.

If you already haven't, I highly recommend checking out the shortlisted books. They are all amazing. Hedgehugs, written by Steve Wilson and illustrated by Lucy Tapper, Dangerous! by Tim Warnes, This Book Just Ate My Dog! by Richard Byrne, and The Sea Tiger by Victoria Turnbull (all below).