The Action for Children's Arts J.M.Barrie Award is given annually to a children's arts practitioner or organisation whose work, in the view of ACA, will stand the test of time.

The J.M.Barrie Award was formerly the ACA Peter Pan Award, presented as part of the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity Awards. The first two winners were Dick King-Smith (2005) and Judith Kerr (2006).

The 2007 winners, Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, are the creators of many classic animation children’s television series including Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine, The Clangers, Noggin the Nog and Pogles Wood.

The winner of the 2008 award was Quentin Blake.

The winner of the 2009 award was Roger McGough.

JM Barrie Award 2009

The 2009 award was presented to Roger McGough CBE for his contribution to children’s poetry.

The award ceremony took place on 10 October at Polka Theatre, London, as part of The Word Children’s Festival of Literature (and Polka’s 30th birthday celebrations) where Roger was giving a Saturday morning poetry reading.  After the reading, the audience were invited to stay for the presentation.

The event, organised by ACA Vice-Chair, Vicky Ireland MBE, was made particularly memorable by the presence of Judith Kerr, who won the award in 2006.

The award was presented, as it is every year, by a child – on this occasion, nine year old Yusuf Steel, winner of the Poetry Book Society’s Old Possum Award for young writers – following a speech by ACA Chair, David Wood OBE.

"Roger McGough CBE is multi-talented.  My generation was first aware of him on Top of the Pops singing with the group The Scaffold the devilishly catchy song Lily The Pink.  As one of the Liverpool poets, along with Adrian Henri and Brian Patten, he made poetry more accessible to adults and young people.

His autobiography, Said And Done, tells of his association with everyone from Bob Dylan to the Beatles.  On Radio 4 he presents Poetry Please with quiet authority and enthusiasm.  The current Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy – like Roger a much-valued Patron of Action for Children’s Arts – calls him ‘the patron saint of poetry’.  Charles Causley called him ‘a word juggler who never misses a catch’.

He works in the theatre too – his Molière adaptations are wonderfully witty and inventive.  He has received lots of honorary degrees, the Freedom of Liverpool and – of special interest to us – several awards for his poetry for children, including the Cholmondeley Award.  His work has become increasingly popular with children, partly because of its widespread use in schools.  One of his most popular poems, The Sound Collector, was successfully adapted into a play by Quicksilver Theatre.

A stranger called this morning
Dressed all in black and grey
Put every sound into a bag
And carried them away

The whistling of the kettle
The turning of the lock
The purring of the kitten
The ticking of the clock

It’s a lovely poem and it made a lovely play.

Roger’s poetry for children, including the Puffin books Slapstick, All The Best and The Bees’ Knees, is full of fun and wordplay, but also full of serious musings, giving children both humour and food for thought.  He was even kind enough to include three of my humble offerings in his Kingfisher Book of Comic Verse!

Roger was one of the first celebrated people to attend Action for Children’s Arts annual conferences and to speak passionately about children’s arts.  One quote of his I particularly like is, ‘As we all know, an education without creativity and the arts at its centre is not an education’.

Roger is a truly a worthy recipient of our Award.”