Top award for Young Citizen's Passport
23 Mar 05
Young person's guide to the law takes Saltire Society/TES Scotland award for educational publications
The Young Citizen's Passport Scotland, the pocket guide to legal rights launched last year by the Law Society of Scotland and the Citizenship Foundation, has taken the top prize in a prestigious annual award.
The seven judges of the Saltire Society/TES Scotland award for educational publications placed the booklet, published by Paisley-based Hodder Gibson, as outright winner ahead of "highly commended" period titles published by the National Archives of Scotland, and another Hodder Gibson book, designed to encourage older children to read novels.
The YCP won, said the judges, for its appealing format and "its immense contribution to social education". The guide contains advice on subjects ranging from health and personal safety, to money, going out, finding a home, and police and courts.
"It is highly appropriate for its market and fills a gap in the market with its bite-sized information", said Gillian Macdonald, assistant editor of TES Scotland and one of the judges. "Every pupil leaving school should be given this."
The YCP Scotland was launched in June last year. It is based on a well established publication for England and Wales, the brainchild of the Citizenship Foundation, an independent educational charity, who joined with the Law Society of Scotland and Hodder Gibson to create the Scottish version.
The £3.99 selling price is heavily discounted for bulk purchases and at least one firm of Scottish solicitors is believed to have made a bulk order to distribute to every secondary school pupil in their area.