We are delighted to be able to announce that the Winner of the Bolton Children’s Fiction Awards (BCFA) 2025 is ‘The Final Year’ by Matt Goodfellow.
Bolton School student Eshaal reviewed the book, perfectly summarising why it won:
“‘The Final Year’ is an amazing and heart-touching book which I must say, is also very emotional… You’ll relate if you have friendship problems or break ups and if you have trouble finding yourself in the darkness, as the book says.”
Matt was delighted to accept the Award and spoke of how much it means to him to know that young readers are connecting to Nate’s story. He said that there is always hope when life is difficult and that poetry is a way of expressing that ‘life matters.’
In his acceptance speech, Matt said:
“It means a lot as a writer to have an award voted for by young people, because young people don’t vote with an agenda, you vote for what you like and connect with, and that’s incredibly important to me as a writer. It’s been a beautiful thing to see so many people connect with Nate’s story, and really I think the story of life. … I think that Nate’s story demonstrates that even in those moments of darkness, it’s the darkness that switches on the lights. That for me, as a writer, is one of the most important things I try to write about: that life matters, and for you, for anybody really, your life matters.”
This was the first time that a verse novel has been nominated for the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award and readers enjoyed the short, insightful poetry that helped them explore Nate’s emotions. Students showed great empathy with the main character as he struggled with a difficult home life and growing up.
Matt will receive a special prize shortly and has promised to unbox it on social media when it arrives.
Watch the video announcement:
2025 was the second year of the Award’s new format: a Celebration Day was held in April at Bolton School, where students met and engaged with the three shortlisted authors in person, followed by an online announcement of the winner in July.
This year’s Shortlist was three books, selected by the Library staff to stretch pupils’ reading experiences and to introduce them to new authors and genres. The 2025 Shortlist was:
‘The Secrets of the Snakestone’ by Piu DasGupta
‘My Brilliant Plan to Fix Everything’ by Ben Davis
‘The Final Year’ by Matt Goodfellow
While all quite distinct titles, they also have common themes running through them: developing a sense of identity, friendship and a sense of humour — something which young readers appreciate! They were picked as being some of the best contemporary Middle Grade novels.
Library staff have compiled a Longlist of six books for interested staff and students to read over the summer holidays. Should you wish to join in, these will be displayed on the Bolton School library website in due course. The Shortlist will be announced around October half term.
Photos from the BCFA Celebration Day:
-crop.jpg&command_2=resize&height_2=85 "Bolton School Launches Transformational Bursary Campaign")
