The final shortlist has been announced to find the Lakeland Book of the Year 2010 - Cumbria's answer to the Booker Prize..  Authors and publishers will now attend a special literary luncheon on Tuesday July 6th at the four-star Armathwaite Hall Country House and Spa near Keswick, to find out who's won.

This year there were entries from writers based in Levens near Kendal; Carlisle, Coniston, Workington, Little Langdale, Keswick, Whitehaven, Cockermouth, Carnforth, as well as London and as far afield as New Zealand. Any book can be entered into the competition providing it was published last year and concerns Cumbria in some way. The winner of each category will receive a cheque for £100 together with a framed certificate. The overall winner of the Hunter Davies Prize for the Lakeland Book of the Year will also receive a Cheque for £100 and a framed certificate. The panel of judges is chaired by Author and Broadcaster Hunter Davies and includes renowned local author Kathleen Jones and TV Presenter and Author Fiona Armstrong.

For more details please contact me: Sheila Lindsay, Lakeland Book of the Year Awards Co-ordinator on 01539 825052 or slindsay@cumbriatourism.org

lakeland book of the year 2010 winner

The overall winner of The Lakeland Book of the Year 2010 has today been named.

Hercules And The Farmers Wife: And Other Stories from a Cumbrian Art Gallery was written by Chris Wadsworth who runs the Castlegate House Gallery in Cockermouth.

All of the winners were revealed at a special literary luncheon today at Armathwaite Hall Country House and Spa at Bassenthwaite near Keswick. The judging panel of the annual Cumbria Tourism-run competition is headed up by Hunter Davies, a Cumbrian writer and prolific biographer, along with broadcaster Fiona Armstrong, and renowned Cumbrian author Kathleen Jones, of Appleby.  read more

category: the michael berry prize for guides, walks and places

Cumbria's Weather: Your Complete Guide
By Peter Johnson
Publishers: Cinderbarrow Publishing
Peter Johnson, Levens, Kendal, 015395 60919
Peter Johnson has lived in Cumbria for many years having been brought up at Greenodd and is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. This book is your essential guide to Cumbria's weather: past, present and (possibly) the future.

The Lake District Guide Book
By William Fricker, written and photographed
Published by Goldeneye Guidebooks, £12.99
William Fricker, Barnstaple, North Devon, 07768 771 345
Author William Fricker lives in North Devon and for the past 20 years has worked for Goldeneye, compiling the research, editorial and photography for more than a hundred UK travel guides and books. In his foreword, William writes: "I would hope that once you have trawled the pages, you will agree this is more than a guidebook. It is meant to be a souvenir, an object to treasure. And, in this regard, I have tried to be different from the norm and have illustrated the lakes with more than one image and have portrayed them in all weathers and seasons."

category winner 

Walking On Bridges
By Robin Bray
Hayloft Publishing Limited, £15
Robin Bray, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 017683 42300 (publisher no)
In the foreword to Robin Bray's book, Eric Robson, chairman of Cumbria Tourism, writes: "Robin Bray just loves bridges. He writes of them as some would write about a beautiful woman. But this book is more than just romantic pontology. It sets the fine ancient bridges of Lakeland in their historical and economic context in a series of spectacular walks, in which the bridges are the stars." Robin is a consultant anaesthetist and the book features 23 walks, each with a bridge and 61 full-colour route maps.

category: the david winkworth prize for illustration and presentation

A Year In The Life of Buttermere
By Bill Birkett
Publisher: Frances Lincoln, £16.99
Contact Frances Lincoln
Bill Birkett is one of Britain's foremost mountain writers and photographers, who lives in Little Langdale in the Lake District. This photographic essay, the fourth volume in Bill Birkett's prize-winning and widely-praised valley portraits, captures all the facets of the delightful Buttermere Valley throughout the seasons, from the ever-changing mood of its lakes and tarns to its inspirational high fells.

category winner 

Thomas Mawson - Life, gardens and landscapes
By Janet Waymark
Publisher: Frances Lincoln, £40
Contact Frances Lincoln
In the early 20th century, Thomas Hayton Mawson (1861-1933) was the most sought-after garden and landscape designer of the day and could name crowned heads of Europe among his clients. This self-taught horticulturalist was soon designing gardens around grand new homes in the Lake District. His trademark terraces and stonework allowed views to the surrounding hills and Lakes. This is the first full biography of Thomas Mawson; it includes much new material and images garnered from relatives and public and private sources.

Discover Northern Lakeland
By Charlie Emett and James Templeton
Publisher: The History Press, £12.99
James Templeton, Coledale Meadows, Carlisle - 01228 532098
The Cumbrian mountains, with their 16 lakes radiating from a central point like the spokes of a wheel, and their numerous smaller tarns, have become today's Lakeland - renowned for its great natural beauty. In their new book, Charlie Emett and James Templeton have chosen 10 of the most fascinating, intriguing and historic sites that the northern part of this area has to offer.

category: the lakeland echo prize for stories and reporting

The West Cumbria Flood Disaster 2009: A Photographic Account of Cockermouth and Workington
By Richard L M Byers
Publishers: Landmark Librarium, £5.99
Richard Byers, Moresby Parks, Whitehaven, 07749 588354
On Thursday November 19, 2009, England's worst recorded day of rain occurred across the fells of the Lake District. Over 314mm fell at Seathwaite in the Borrowdale Valley. Compiled by local historian, Richard Byers, this book is a unique account of this historic event and all royalties go to the Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund.

category winner

Wings On Windermere
By Allan King
Publisher: Mushroom Model Publications
Allan King, Longdon, nr Rugeley, Staffs, 01730 300 795
Visitors to the Lake District today, seeing the quiet and peaceful Windermere, never guess that this was once the site of a factory building military flying boats. But in the early 1940s, a factory was built from scratch to produce what were called Short Sunderlands, along with a complete village to house the workers. The fascinating story of this forgotten factory is told in this book, alongside the history of the big planes built there, which served with the RAF and other air arms until the 1950s.

Footballers Don't Cry: An English Family's Experience Of The 20th Century
By William Smith
Gadfly Books, New Zealand
Footballers Don't Cry centres on the lives of William Smith's family from Carlisle from about 1890 until the 1970s. It focuses on the extraordinary story of his father, Jack Smith, a promising footballer before the First World War, who was badly wounded in France in 1918. It tells of his struggle to overcome his disability through the Depression, the Second World War and its aftermath.

Talk Of The Town
By Jacob Polley
Publishers: Picador, £9.99
Jacob Polley - contact RCW Literary Agency, 0207 221 3717
It's 1986 and the last day of the school summer holidays in Carlisle. Christopher Hearsey is wondering why his best mate Arthur has suddenly disappeared. The great border city of Carlisle is buzzing with rumours following an act of terrible violence. Jacob Polley was born in Carlisle in 1975 and is the author of two poetry collections. Talk Of The Town is his first novel.

overall & catergory winner

Hercules And The Farmers Wife: And Other Stories from a Cumbrian Art Gallery
By Chris Wadsworth
Publishers: Aurum, £12.99
Chris Wadsworth, Castlegate House Gallery, Cockermouth, 01900 822149
Ms Chris Wadsworth is the gallerist of Castlegate House Gallery in Cockermouth, which she opened in July 1987. Her exhibitions have included work by artists such as L.S. Lowry, Sheila Fell, Bill Peascod, Percy Kelly, Winifred Nicholson, and Mary Fedden. Chris upped sticks 25 years ago and moved from Bristol to Cumbria. In this book, she tells the stories of artists, customers and residents who visit her shop, along with recounting many other unlikely incidents - from the exploding treacle pudding and the mystery of the Purple House, to knitting Vicars flogging Mick Jagger carpets. All the tales which make up life in a small Cumbrian art gallery.

How Hall Poems and Memories: A Passion For Ennerdale
By the late Tom Rawling
Publisher: Lamplugh And District Heritage Society, £7.50
Joint Editor: Michael Baron, from Cockermouth - 01900 824625
Tom Rawling was born in 1916 in Ennerdale. Educated at the village school, Whitehaven Grammar School and University College London, he was a soldier in the Second World War and then a teacher for 30 years. Retiring in 1976, he began to write poetry and published three well-regarded verse collections. He died in Oxford in 1996. The Lamplugh and District Heritage Society have enabled this collection of most of his poems so that Tom earns a rightful place alongside the best Cumbrian poets.

category: the saint & co prize for people and business

category winner 

Joss: The Life And Times Of The Legendary Lake District fell runner and shepherd
By Keith Richardson, colour photography by Val Corbett
Publisher: River Greta Writer, Keswick (Keith's publishing company), £25
Keith Richardson, Windebrowe Avenue, Keswick - 017687 74284
Olympic Gold Medal winner and London Marathon man, Chris Brasher, described Joss Naylor as "the Greatest of Them All." A title he bestowed on Joss when he ran 72 Lake District mountains inside 24 hours.
Joss Naylor's pedigree as a fell runner is undeniable but there is much more to the man. In addition to his considerable exploits in the world of running, this biography brings to the fore other areas of Joss's remarkable story.

Ransome's Foreign Legion
By Robert M. Thompson
Published by Amazon Publications
Robert Thompson, Old Furness Road, Coniston, 07742 598 217
Much has been written about the 12 Swallows and Amazons books of Arthur Ransome, but only rarely is there any mention of the foreign editions and the way in which they have been produced. Robert Thompson, who lives and works in Coniston, has amassed a large collections of foreign translations and has thus made a major study of their content. As well as researching and writing the text, he also compiled the illustrations.

Bleeding, Blisters and Opium: Joshua Dixon and the Whitehaven Dispensary
By Dr Michael Sydney
Publishers: Stainburn Publications, Workington, £14.95
Michael Sydney, Stainburn, Workington, 01900 602 814
18th century Whitehaven was devastated by outbreaks of contagious fevers and epidemics of the most feared disease of all - smallpox. The late Joshua Dixon in the town devoted his life to the care of the sick, poor, and to preventing the spread of infectious disease. The book recalls Dixon's "immense historical significance."

category: the bill rollinson prize for landscape and tradition

Herdwicks: Herdwick Sheep and the English Lake District
By Geoff Brown
Hayloft Publishing Limited, £14
Geoff Brown, Cupar, Fife, 017683 42300 (publisher no)
Geoff Brown has bred Herdwick Sheep and was secretary of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders' Association for 18 years, as well having a long-standing interest in the traditions of Lakeland Fell Farming. Herdwicks are the native sheep of the Lakes. This book traces the development of the breed and reveals the fell farming year through numerous historical and current examples.

category winner 

Lakeland In The 1830s: Based On The Journal of a Gentleman Traveller, Isaac Simpson
By Wendy M. Stuart
Published by Hayloft Publishing Limited, Kirkby Stephen, £14.00
Wendy Stuart, 017683 42300 (publisher number)
Former Art and Design teacher, Wendy Stuart, of Chorley, Lancashire, researches the history of a pre-Victorian gentleman traveller, Isaac Simpson, who was her great-great grandfather who journeyed through the Lake District in the 1830s and wrote about it in a daily journal preserved by her family for over 200 years. The book contains Isaac's original observations of Lakeland life, as well as paintings by Wendy herself.

The Life And Interesting Times of Joseph Ritson Wallace
By Harry Fancy (Curator of Whitehaven Museum 1975-1996)
Published by Kevin Dranfield, Stockport, £7.50
Harry Fancy, Nether Kellett, Carnforth, Lancs - 01524 735712
The subject of this book concerns Joseph Ritson Wallace who was the multi-talented owner of the Cumberland Museum and The Douglas Museum on the Isle Of Man, as well as the proprietor of "The Manx Liberal," newspaper. Here former Whitehaven Museum curator, Harry Fancy, looks at one of his predecessors who was born in 1805 at Lorton near Cockermouth.