BOROUGH teenagers are voting for their favourite book for this year’s Dudley Teen Book Award.

The winner will be announced on Tuesday March 19 in an afternoon ceremony at Himley Hall.

Voting is open now and votes can be cast at school libraries, borough libraries and on the Dudley Libraries website until March 17.

This year’s shortlist comprises: Mortal Chaos by Matt Dickinson, Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle, Twelve minutes to midnight by Christopher Edge, Hero on a Bicycle by Shirley Hughes, The Girl in the Mask by Marie-Louise Jensen, Itch by Simon Mayo and All Fall Down by Sally Nicholls.

Shortlisted authors Matt Dickinson and Marie-Louise Jensen will be at the event which will see Matt talking about his book and Marie-Louise performing a reading.

Rising teen fiction star David Massey from Stourbridge will also be at the bash to perform a reading from his book Torn and to announce the winner of the 2013 Dudley Teen Book award.

Councillor Khurshid Ahmed, Dudley’s cabinet member for housing, libraries and adult learning said: “The Dudley Teen Book Awards are now in their second year and represent a great partnership between Dudley’s secondary schools, public libraries and the schools library service.

“The fact that two of the shortlisted authors are attending the event demonstrates the credibility of the event and I hope they will act as an inspiration to budding authors in the audience.”