The Pearson Prize
In 2008 Lester B. Pearson High School in Montreal founded a new book award for teen literature - The Pearson Prize. The award was founded as part of the school's award-winning project Learning for a Cause which aims to increase authenticity in public schooling by engaging students in real world initiatives.
The prize is given to a self-published or small press book written for a teen audience. The prize jury is entirely comprised of teens and only one book is chosen to receive the medal. In addition to the winner two runners-up are also selected.
The concept of the Pearson Prize was an initiative of Learning for a Cause founder Michael Ernest Sweet. Sweet says, "I wanted to get books into my classroom and I didn't have the funding to buy them. Students need books! So, I thought why not have authors send their books as payment for entry into a contest. The students will get books sent to them and in return will award a medal to the best book submitted. Its been a total success - we get hundreds of books sent to us now and students are reading these books that might not otherwise be easily discovered. The authors are getting an award entirely chosen by teens. Everyone wins!"
This year's Pearson Prize winner is "The Wave Wranglers and the New Order of the Pyramid" written by Eric Nail and published by Lulu.com.
In his debut book, author Eric Nail concocts a wild ride action adventure story that takes the reader from the beaches to California to caves in Mexico all the while talking to mermaids, the King of Atlantis and nefarious criminal masterminds. Nail’s ‘The Wave Wranglers and the New Order of the Pyramid’ is a Slacker’s version of Scooby Doo meets ‘The DaVinci Code.’ The book includes a detailed roll out of secret societies bent on ruling the world through the manipulation of government, religion and symbols galore. Nail waste’s no time in asking the reader to suspend any semblance of reality as the book’s hero, a surfing band leader named Dippy, is approached and saved by the beautiful Annemerie the Mermaid. Once instigated our hero and his band quickly set off to solve the mystery, save the Mer-people king, interact with mythical creatures and take on the so-called, New World Order.
One students has said of The Wave Wranglers, "This book opened my eyes to everything. It's as if I have never even seen before. An absolute must read."
The runners-up are Jack Said by Simon Phillips (www.jacksaid.co.uk)
The Pearson Prize details can be found at www.PearsonPrize.org. The Pearson Prize is made possible through support from Learning for a Cause.org and Lulu.com.
