Target: Smarties Prize History and past winners

[Cindy Dobrez <dobrez@NOVAGATE.COM>]

Since I learned that Harry Potter won the Smarties Prize for books, I've
been trying to find out more about the award, its history, how it is
awarded, and what other books have won.  My new library secretary is
Canadian, and she got this whole thing started by introducing us to the
"real" Smarties candies.  It seems that they are not the sweet-tart candies
I grew up with in Michigan.  Nestles makes Smarties which either come in a
roll or a box.  They look like large M&M's but come in extra colors.  One
article about Harry says that the first two books won the Nestles Smarties
Book Prize. She brought in some samples, and we are trying to not eat them
all so that we can put some on display once we track down some more
information about the award.

Here's what I've gleaned so far on my Internet searches, but most of the
information was not documented, so it may not be correct:

Smarties Prize is in its 14th year.  Librarians short list titles which are
then voted on by 150 classes of children in England.

I found this web site which has pictures of the Smarties candies (along with
a lot of grammatical errors), but no mention of the award:
http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/Lilnat/smarties.html

I emailed Bloomsbury.com (Harry Potter's British publisher) over a week ago,
but haven't heard back yet.  I thought they might have some information
since their books have won the prize.

If you have any information to add, or can correct any errors in the "facts"
I have, please email me and I will post a hit.

Cindy Dobrez, Librarian
Harbor Lights School
West Ottawa Public Schools
Holland, MI 49424
dobrez@novagate.com

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