On Wednesday 3rd June staff and students of Lincoln Bishop’s English Department met in the library’s Teaching Resources Collection (TRC), to discuss the English Association’s (EA) 2026 English 4-11 Picture Book Awards and the theme of the National Year of Reading 2026 – Go All In.
Hosted where our children’s literature books can be found on campus, Claudia Capancioni, Amy Webster and Angela Waddell organised the event entitled, 'Judging the EA Picture Book Awards', which was led by Mia Sneyd – an MA Children's Literature and Literacies student.
Mia’s recent experience on the judging panel of the English Association’s 2026 English 4-11 Picture Book Awards inspired the event, alongside her enthusiasm for researching how children engage with books and reading.
A first-semester module on the MA was very important to Mia’s contribution to being a judge, as she explained how she could apply the theoretical and methodological knowledge gained during the programme. This enabled her to be a judge who was confident in identifying the qualities of the books from the perspective of an education practitioner and how to present those of the children she works with.
The event began with Mia’s engaging and interactive presentation on her judging experience and then continued with conversations inspired by the books presented, attendees’ experiences teaching with and enjoying picture books, and their memories as readers.
Dr Amy Webster, Senior Lecturer at Lincoln Bishop said: "Mia's talk and her involvement in the judging panel has shown an excellent application of her studies on the MA Children's Literature and Literacies. Mia skilfully used her knowledge of picture book theory from the module 'Children’s Literature: Words, Pictures, Voices' to make highly critical and informed judgements about books."
Professor Claudia Capancioni, Professor of English Literature at Lincoln Bishop emphasised: “This is exactly the approach to studying children's text that we promote and develop on the MA."
This Saturday, on 13th June 2026, both Mia and Claudia will be present at an English Association Conference as Mia starts her new editorial role on the EA Magazine English 4-11 which supports literacy in the primary classroom, and Claudia will become an elected Fellow of the association!
To find out more about the English Association, please visit: The English Association | The English Association
To find out more about Postgraduate study in English at Lincoln Bishop, visit our dedicated course pages:
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