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A very British mystery set in Cornwall has been crowned the overall winner of the Blue Peter Book Awards 2011.  Dead Man’s Cove - is the first in a new series from White Giraffe author Lauren St John.  The story follows the adventures of Laura Marlin, an 11-year-old amateur sleuth, as she leaves her children’s home and embarks on a new life with her mysterious uncle in St Ives.

Packed with all of the ingredients of a classic British adventure novel, mixed in with modern-day themes, the book not only won in its category of Favourite Story it also went on to win ultimate accolade of Blue Peter Book of the Year 2011.

There was strong competition from other award winning and popular authors including Marcus Sedgwick and Mitchell Symons.

Commenting on this year's competition Deputy Blue Peter Editor Joe McCulloch said: ‘The standard this year has been extremely high, as it always is. Any one of the shortlisted books could have won Book of the Year, but I’m delighted that Dead Man’s Cove was chosen by our young judges – it’s an absolutely enthralling and entertaining read that keeps the reader guessing with every page turn.  I must also mention our two other finalists.  Marcus Sedgwick’s Lunatics and Luck is a brilliantly quirky tale with some great illustrations by Pete Williamson, and Mitchell Symons has proven his continuing panache for answering those questions that children never knew they wanted answers for, by reaching the final for the second year running with Do Igloos Have Loos?  Well done all!’ 
 
The Blue Peter Book Award is very influential and also very popular.  It recognises and celebrates the best authors, the most creative illustrators and the greatest reads for children and has been doing so since 2000.
 
There are three categories of awards: Best Book with Facts, Most Fun Story with Pictures and Favourite Story. The favourite of the three is voted Blue Peter Book of the Year.

  Do Igloos have Loos by Mitchell Symons won the Best Book with Facts category.

Lunatics and Luck (Raven Mysteries) by Marcus Sedgwick was the winner of  Most Fun Story with Pictures.