Harry Potter author misses top book prize

JK Rowling has missed out on the top prize in this year's Children's Book Award.

The Harry Potter author was beaten by Kes Gray and his book Eat Your Peas.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire won a prize in the longer novel category and Lizzie Zipmouth by Jacqueline Wilson took the shorter novel award.

Eat Your Peas is the story of Daisy whose parents bribe her with presents in an effort to get her to eat her greens.

Children's Book Award 2001 organiser Marianne Adey says she is delighted with the result.

"It is good to see that children appreciate new talent when they meet a book of such high quality," she said.

"The Children's Book Award is unique in that it is voted for entirely by children throughout the United Kingdom and, as such, is an accolade eagerly sought by writers and illustrators - this being reflected in that over 20,000 children took part in the judging, reviewing and re-reviewing over 1200 books."