THE Worcestershire Teen Book Awards has been hailed a huge success – with about 200 youngsters taking part.

Ten schools from the county took part in this year’s scheme, which saw teenagers read a selection of shortlisted books and vote for their favourite.

The awards are designed to engage teens with modern authors and encourage them to read more.

The winning book, revealed at a special ceremony at County Hall, was The Enemy by Charlie Higson – a horror tale about a virulent disease that turns humans into bloodthirsty killing machines.

Dawn Woods, manager of Worcestershire County Council’s schools library service and awards organiser, said: “Judging by the audience reaction, it was a popular choice.

“This year, I feel the whole awards generated an atmosphere of expectation of the shortlist, then excitement while reading and discussing, followed by anticipation for the announcement of the winner.

“We had a very diverse shortlist this year with something for everyone, so it has extended the range of many readers, myself included as I had not read Robert Muchamore before.”

Teachers and librarians who took part in the awards said it had helped create a reading culture where it did not exist before and brought pupils and tutors together.

This year’s competition pitted six books – Jason Bradbury’s Dot Robot, Cathy Cassidy’s Angel Cake, Susie Day’s Girl Meets Cake, Narinder Dhami’s Bang, Bang, You're Dead; Charlie Higson’s The Enemy and Robert Muchamore’s The Escape.

During the presentation, students led a debate about the novels, which are all aimed at young readers, and watched video clips of book extracts acted out.

Titles for consideration next year must be published between December 2010 and November 2011 and be aimed at readers aged 11 to 14. They cannot be sequels. Call 01905 766766 for details.

● Meanwhile, a quiz tested teenagers’ knowledge of their favourite books.

Six teams met at Droitwich High School to pit their wits against each other on the subject of their favourite titles to claim the Worcestershire Teen Book Awards quiz cup. The winners were from Droitwich.