Tom Avery, a teacher working in a culturally diverse inner city school, has won the Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Award 2010 for Too Much Trouble, a story the judges described as 'an Oliver Twist of our times'. The contemporary adventure story is a dramatic page-turner about Emmanuel and Prince, two brothers who fall in with a gang of pickpockets when their family abandons them. Fast paced and full of tension, it explores big issues such as illegal immigration, what makes a family and the ethical dilemmas surrounding crimes committed for survival.

The Award was founded jointly by Frances Lincoln Limited and Seven Stories, in memory of Frances Lincoln (1945-2001) to encourage and promote diversity in children's fiction. The  prize of £1,500 plus the option for Janetta Otter-Barry at Frances Lincoln Children's Books to publish the novel is awarded to the best manuscript for 8 to 12-year-olds that celebrates diversity in the widest possible sense.  The award was presented at Seven Stories, the national Centre for Children's Books, on 8 June 2010.

In the photograph from left to right:

STANDING: Jake Hope (judge); Geraldine Brennan (judge); John Nicoll (Managing Director of Frances Lincoln); Mary Briggs (judge); Janetta Otter-Barry (judge and publisher); Sue Stern (Commended); Kate Edwards ( Chief Executive of Seven Stories)  

SITTING Remi Oyedele (Highly Commended); Tom Avery (the winner); Karon Alderman (Special Mention).