The six final novels, chosen from a long-list of 24, have been chosen by young Mancunians, aged between 11 to 14, who’ve been voting on their favourites since September, via reading groups in schools, libraries and homework centres.  | | Catherine Forde |
Now it’s time to decide which one of the six takes the top prize. The shortlist is Ingo, by Helen Dunmore, The Drowning Pond by Catherine Forde, Hold On by Alan Gibbons, Until Proven Guilty by Nigel Hinton, Beast by Ally Kennen and The Innocent's Story by Nicky Singer. Sadly, the only Manchester writers included in the long-list, Paul Magrs and Melvin Burgess, didn’t make the final cut, though both were happy just to have received the nominations. Last year, the first Manchester Book Award contest was held, which led to Jeremy Strong being crowned the winner in March for his book Stuff, admitting at the time to being "gobsmackingly amazed and terribly chuffed" when he was chosen.  | | Nicky Singer |
This time around, the award will be presented at a glittering ceremony at the City of Manchester Stadium, again in March, and there’s a chance for one voter to get their hands on VIP tickets! To stand a chance of being there, it’s simply a case of calling into your local library or visiting the Manchester Book Award website, and casting your vote. You can also add your own reviews of the shortlisted books. And don’t worry if you haven’t read them. There are lots of copies of the shortlisted books at your local library, reserving them is free and you can even do it at the website if you have a library card! | 
