Meet the judges
Meet our 2022 judges for My Twist on a Tale!
Annie Everall OBE, Director of Authors Aloud UK
Annie is Director of Authors Aloud UK, an agency organising school visits and tours in the UK and Internationally for children’s authors and publishers. She serves on the committees of the CILIP School Libraries Group, ASCEL, FCBG and the Literacy and Reading section of IFLA. She is also a Trustee for Read for Good. She is a children’s book reviewer and is a judge for the Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Award. She was awarded the OBE in 2001 for services to children’s books and libraries.
Catherine Kulli, Support Representative at Coram Beanstalk
Cat is a Support Representative for Coram Beanstalk. She supports volunteers who go into schools and share their love of reading in one-to-one sessions with primary school children. Cat is passionate about encouraging children to read and loves hearing the success stories of those who have switched on to reading!
Deborah Maclaren, Director of Love Reading
Deborah Maclaren is a serial entrepreneur, business owner and strong commercial leader who has been in business for 25 years. She has been MD of Love Reading since mid-2018, bringing together her media background, passion for books, her love of literacy, marketing knowledge and her commercial acumen.
Emma Braithwaite, Head of Skills and Development at Reading Agency
Emma leads The Reading Agency’s work engaging children, young people and families with reading for pleasure; helping them to build their skills and confidence and develop a lifelong love of reading.
Jemma Wallace, children’s author
Jemma Wallace won the 'One in four' new writer competition in 2018; a competition run by Orion imprint, Trapeze, and the charity Gingerbread, to highlight the fact that a quarter of families in the UK are headed by a single parent. She has since published her debut novel The Truth About My Mother in February 2020. Jemma lives near Edinburgh with her eight-year-old son, Archie.
Anna Reeves, CEO at Ace Centre
Prior to joining Ace Centre in 1996, Anna taught in mainstream and special education. Her interest in Assistive Technology and AAC stemmed from seeing the impact it had on the students she taught and the importance of working within a multi-disciplinary team in order to identify the best solutions to meet their needs. Since joining Ace Centre, Anna has overseen its transition from a service within Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council to national charity, joining the former two Ace Centres and campaigning for improved services and provision for children and adults who need AAC. In addition, Anna has assisted in the establishment of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Assistive Technology.
Ashley Bates, primary teacher and Founder of The Shed School
Ashley Bates is a primary school teacher and Founder of the award-winning online platform, The Shed School.
During COVID-19, Ashley live streamed English and maths classes for children aged between five to eight years old and within weeks had over 6,000 followers.
The Shed School continued to grow during school closures in 2020 and 2021 and although children are now back in school, Ashley continues to grow The Shed School into a place filled with fun and learning to help children grow from all over the world.
Michelle Searle, Support Services Manager at Coram Beanstalk
Michelle joined Coram Beanstalk in January 2017 wanting to help vulnerable children develop a love of reading.
As someone who didn’t engage with reading particularly as a child, she completely and passionately understands the importance of reading and how 'reading for pleasure' is the key to supporting children to become readers.
Sara Browne, Trainer at Coram Beanstalk
Sara has worked with Coram Beanstalk since 2016, first as a volunteer reading helper and now as a Trainer.
Originally trained as an actor, Sara became a Portage worker, working with pre-school children with additional needs. Following this, Sara spent twelve years as a lecturer in Early Years Development and Education giving her a strong insight into the importance of sharing books with young children.
Sara loves bringing the enjoyment of great books to the children she sees, helping children discover new worlds through a love of reading.
Tim Judge, Head of School Programmes at the NLT
Tim has worked in the education sector for over 10 years and currently leads on National Literacy Trust school programmes and teacher development.
Tim has experience of designing, delivering, and evaluating literacy programmes for primary and secondary schools and has worked with a wide variety of clients during his time at the National Literacy Trust including, Microsoft, The Premier League, Disney and Audible.
Claire Dorer OBE, Chief Executive at NASS
Claire has been the Chief Executive of NASS since 2005. She is an experienced leader and coach in education and not for profit sectors with a background in management, public policy, research and psychology.
Sue Bastone, former chair at School Library Association
Sue retired from school librarianship in 2018 after 30 years in the sector. Since then she has undertaken a number of voluntary roles in the sector, most recently that of Chair of the SLA 2020/22 and
continues to advise on all reading and library matters.
Sue is a passionate advocate of reading for pleasure and giving children and young people the information and literacy skills they need to succeed in life. She is a Fellow of CILIP, reached the Honour List for School Librarian of the Year in 2010 and is a former Chair of SLA Central & East Berkshire. She is a regular reviewer for the SLA and has been a judge for numerous book and writing awards.