Bill Bryson and Felicia Law win Educational Writers' Award 2010

Bill Bryson’s A Really Short History of Nearly Everything beat off stiff competition at the House of Commons last night to win this year’s Educational Writers’ Award.

The award was presented in the House of Commons by Lord Hill, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools at the All Party Writers Group winter reception which was well attended by writers and MPs.

The book, abridged and edited by Felicia Law, was given unanimous support by judges Maggy Campbell, Louise Gerrard and Stewart Ross, remarking:

“It is, in short, a very rare creation indeed – a non-fiction book for younger readers that may be classed as literature and that fact, coupled with the genius of being able to explain the concepts behind life, the universe and everything in such an accessible and entertaining way, makes this book a winner.”

Mr Bryson said he was he was honoured to be considered for the award, adding: “Any initiative that encourages young people to read is obviously to be applauded."

This year’s shortlist, described as “highlighting humour, scholarship and lateral thinking” also included Ben Crystal for Shakespeare on Toast, John Farndon for Do You Think You’re Clever? and Liz Strachan for A Slice of Pi.

The Educational Writers’ Award was created by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society and the Society of Authors in 2008 in celebration of educational writing that inspires creativity and encourages young people to read widely and build up their understanding of a subject beyond curriculum requirements. It is the only UK award focusing on educational non-fiction.

For more information on the competition and judges you can see the full press release here.

A full set of the judges’ comments can be downloaded here.

To see the press release on the announcement of the shortlist, please see here.

To view further photos from the event, please click here.

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