BGU graduate given Prue Goodwin Award!

This year's Prue Goodwin award has been presented to Bishop Grosseteste University Children’s Literature and Literacies MA student (now 2024 graduate) Emma Edwards, in recognition of her Master's dissertation which explored representations of disability in children's literature. Her research around this topic was incredibly in-depth and she was "very interested in the types of characters represented in literature, as well as how the children interpreted and understood them."

Dr Prue Goodwin, who received an honorary doctorate from BGU in 2021, has been an inspiration to many colleagues and their teaching. Prue Goodwin trained as a teacher at BGU (1965-1965) and is now a world authority on Primary Education. She is a longstanding member of the UK Literacy Association (UKLA) and a prolific writer, having written and edited more than 18 books and guides.

Emma commented:

"I am really grateful that my master’s dissertation has been recognised through the Prue Goodwin award. I referred to her work during the research element of the study. The final dissertation was a result of a lot of hard work and was particularly challenging as I was balancing a Primary School teaching role, a new Senior Lecturer role and a young family.

My dissertation stemmed from two key pieces of academic writing. Bishop (1990) identified that books were, ‘Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors.’ Blaska (2004) built on this work and went on to identify that ‘Perhaps no group has been as overlooked and inaccurately presented in children’s books as individuals with disabilities.’

My final work focused on representations of disability within children’s literature, particularly focusing on visible disabilities. I’m really proud of the work through this piece of research and I hope that I will have the opportunity to share my findings and build further on my understanding of representations within children’s literature in the future."

Her award was presented by award-winning children's author Hannah Gold on Thursday 24th of July just after the BGU Graduation ceremony at Lincoln Cathedral. Hannah was attending the ceremony to receive her Honorary Doctorate from BGU. Congratulations Emma!