WINNERS of last year s One Book for Stevenage competition – which aims to get people of all ages enjoying the same book – have been presented with their prizes. Four readers impressed judges with their reviews of Lian Hearn s Across the Nightingale Floor

WINNERS of last year's One Book for Stevenage competition - which aims to get people of all ages enjoying the same book - have been presented with their prizes.

Four readers impressed judges with their reviews of Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor.

Erika Cárdenas won the first prize of a digital radio, donated by Pure Digital. Erika's first language is Spanish so she faced an additional challenge when reading this book.

She recommended Across the Nightingale Floor as a "magic, romantic, gracious and gripping book to read."

Two winners won £50 worth of Ottakar's book tokens each. Archie Squires, 14, who attends Marriotts School, began his review with "This is the best book I have ever read. It has suspense, drama, action, romance to name but a few, but above all this it has a mystical quality."

He has read Lian Hearn's entire trilogy and is looking forward to her new book.

Sarah Page also picked up book tokens and said: "I used to read a lot when I was younger but now I'm a mum I don't get the time. One Book for Stevenage encouraged me to take the time to read and introduced me to the kind of book I would not normally pick up. It's an excellent scheme."

Alan Raxworthy was the proud winner of Lian Hearn's trilogy, signed by the author herself. He described Across the Nightingale Floor as "a novel that any reader of adventure will find spellbinding...a tale of feudalism, intrigue and treachery".

Stevenage mayor Brian Underwood said: "The standard of all the reviews we received was very high and I was delighted to present the four winners with their prizes.

"This competition has confirmed that One Book for Stevenage has been successful in its campaign to get people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities in the town reading and enjoying the same book."

The search has begun for this year's One Book for Stevenage.

Suggestions from the public will be welcomed. Email your ideas to 1book@stevenage.gov.uk or post to: Mayor's Office, Stevenage Borough Council, Daneshill House, Danestrete, Stevenage SG1 1HN.