Oscar's Book Prize

Winner announcement

Oscar’s Book Prize was an annual competition to find the best picture book of the year for young children, backed by Amazon and the Evening Standard, supporting early reading with the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education and Read for Good.

The brief

When the in-person event had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oscar’s Book Prize asked us to create a live-streamed winner announcement for its £10,000 award recognising the best illustrated book for young children in memory of Oscar Ashton.

The content needed to capture the profile of the prize, engage family audiences at home and celebrate the shortlisted authors and illustrators through clear, audience-focused digital content.

We shaped the announcement as a polished digital experience, bringing together remote contributors, trusted messaging and a strong sense of occasion within a focused production schedule.

Three cartoon yaks wearing colourful winter hats and scarves against a snowy blue background

Our approach

Working closely with the Oscar’s Book Prize team, we designed a live-stream format built for clarity, consistency and audience engagement.

We supported Chair James Ashton, judges Viveka Alvestrand, Angellica Bell, Lorraine Kelly and Axel Scheffler, and Royal Patron HRH Princess Beatrice with simple filming guidance so every contribution felt confident, natural and ready for broadcast.

To build momentum around the announcement, we created short social trailers featuring the six shortlisted authors and illustrators.

These assets extended the story across channels, strengthened visibility ahead of the YouTube live stream and helped the campaign reach audiences beyond the event itself.

Cartoon Yak in a colourful knitted hat standing on a snowy mountain with a bird flying nearby

What the client said

“This was a complex lockdown project featuring numerous contributors that Digitom succeeded in delivering on time and ahead of specification.”

James Ashton

Chairman

Oscar’s Book Prize

The outcome

The live-streamed winner announcement delivered a professional, engaging experience for audiences watching from home.

The programme closed with a special reading of The Littlest Yak by Lu Fraser and Kate Hindley, adding warmth, visibility and a memorable finish to the campaign.

The project showed how strong communications content can bring people together, amplify an important message and extend the value of a live moment across digital channels.