UKLA is delighted to announce that the winner of the pilot UKLA Digital Book Award (in partnership with Book Trust, and sponsored by The Open University) is the app, Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Safari, published by Nosy Crow.
This award, covering apps suitable for the 6-8 year age group, is the only national Digital Book Award judged by teachers.
The Flip Flap Safari app is beautifully produced and appealing and can easily be incorporated into guided reading sessions. Children have great fun creating their own animals and playing guessing games and the ‘read to me’ feature is a useful tool enabling all children to enjoy the book. Teacher judges appreciated the rich vocabulary and thought the poetry examples inspired further poetry activities in class.
Dr Natalia Kucirkova, Chair of the Digital Book Award, commented: ‘There are many apps for this age group which either replicate non-digital activities or provide an add-on experience. The choice of Flip Flap Safari as the winner shows that teachers appreciate when digital books can integrate and complement current best practice.’
Book Trust, Chief Executive, Diana Gerald said: ‘It’s time to start looking at apps and digital reading materials with the same critical eye that we use to appraise children’s reading books. We’re still looking at how best this can be done, but getting teachers-the experts on the ground-to assess these apps after using them with children in a classroom, has to be a really good starting point. Congratulations to Axel Scheffler, Flip Flap Safari is a worthy and engaging winner.’
In addition, the app Dino Tales by Kuato Studios is Highly Commended. Digitalisation offers an innovative way to enrich children’s experience of story by combining games with digital books. Dino Tales crosses into the territory of non-fiction, and teaches a range of digital skills in addition to traditional literacy. It takes aspects of game and yet keeps a strong storyline, with advanced customisation options. The children loved the app and could engage with it for extended periods of time.
For more information on the award please contact awards@ukla.org
