Writer rejected 100 times wins top children's award

A DEBUT children's writer who was turned down by 100 publishers has followed in the footsteps of JK Rowling and Philip Pullman to land a major literary prize.

Web designer Jason Wallace, 41, has won the Costa Children's Book Award for Out of Shadows, set in a newly-independent Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe.

The judges declared the book an "extraordinary debut novel", saying: "This compelling portrayal of a nation in crisis gripped us from start to finish and has stayed with us since."

Previous winners include JK Rowling in 1999 for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Philip Pullman for The Amber Spyglass. Author Maggie O'Farrell won the Novel Award for The Hand That First Held Mine.