Sylvia Waugh

Waugh was born in Gateshead, Northern England in 1935.^[1] Having worked as a teacher, careers advisor and teacher-librarian, Waugh began her writing career in 1987.^[2] Her first book, The Mennyms, was published by Julia McRae in 1993 and won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.^[3] She continued The Mennyms as a series of five books (1993 to 1996).^[4]

Beside winning the Guardian Prize,^[3] The Mennyms (book one) was recognised in other ways:

• The Birmingham Readers & Writers Children's Book Award - a new prize, selected by schoolchildren^{[citation needed]}
• An official commendation and the Silver Kiss (CPNB) for the Dutch 'Mennyms under Siege'^{[citation needed]}
• A certificate from the American Hungry Mind Review naming it one of its 'Children's Books of Distinction'^{[citation needed]}
• American Parenting magazine's 'Reading Magic Awards' - one of the top ten children's books in the USA for 1994, and one of the ten books of the decade that 'best withstand the test of time'.^{[citation needed]}
• The whole series was awarded the Kinderbuchpreis 2000 in Vienna.^{[citation needed]}