Recently, three of our students attended the Spellbinding 2026 Book Awards in Penrith.
Spellbinding is a county-wide reading initiative that encourages reading for pleasure by introducing students to a range of recently published books and authors.
Over the past four months, our students have attended regular Spellbinding Book Club sessions with our Librarian, Miss Smith, where they read all 12 shortlisted titles, discussed and reviewed each book, and cast their vote for their favourite.
The awards ceremony brought together students from schools across Cumbria to celebrate reading. During the event, our students had the opportunity to meet several of the shortlisted authors, including Jenny Pearson, whose book Shrapnel Boys was announced as the winner of the 2026 Spellbinding Award. They also met Jack Mackay, author of Gloam, Patrice Lawrence, author of People Like Stars, and Manjeet Mann, author of Roar.
The students thoroughly enjoyed hearing from the authors about their inspiration and writing journeys, as well as taking part in Q&A sessions and celebrating the winning title with other readers from across the county.
They represented St Benedicts brilliantly throughout the programme and at the awards – well done all!
