Lighthouse Girl wins WAYRBA Award

Lighthouse Girl by author Dianne Wolfer and illustrator Brian Simmonds was voted most popular picture book in the 2010 Western Australian Young Readers’ Book Awards.

Wolfer said she was thrilled that Lighthouse Girl had won Australia’s oldest children’s choice awards.

‘This award is extra special because it’s judged (voluntarily) by children from all over Western Australia and books published anywhere in the world in the past five years are eligible,’ said Wolfer.

Wolfer said Lighthouse Girl had been shortlisted for many awards, including the WA Premier’s Awards, the CBC Crichton Award for Best New Illustrator and the NSW Premier’s History Awards, so she’d tried not to get her hopes up.

“Having had no expectations, winning WAYRBA 2010 now feels even more exciting!

“It’s encouraging for me that children have chosen an historical story set in regional WA as their favourite title from such a strong field of award-winning authors,” said Wolfer.

Drawing on fascinating archival material, and interweaving fact with fiction, Lighthouse Girl tells the story of Fay Howe a young girl who lived on remote Breaksea Island during World War I.