“Prisoner of Azkaban” Wins Smarties Book Prize

J.K. Rowling has won yet another Gold Award in the Smarties Book Prize, this time for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

The winners of the Smarties Award are decided by 200 groups of children from across the United Kingdom. This year, over 90% of each group voted for Prisoner of Azkaban as their top choice.

This is the third Gold Award in the Smarties Book Prize for Rowling, who has won previously in the 9–11 years category with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It’s the first time that any author has won the award three times in a row, and according to Rowling, the third time is the best:

Believe it or not, [the] third time round means the most to me; it really does. Two years ago, when Harry wasn’t famous at all, he won the Smarties Award, and it was the first thing Harry ever won. In fact, it was the first thing I won in my life, ever, apart from a book about how to grow pot plants.

Despite her tremendous success in this category, Rowling has asked for any of Harry’s future stories to not be considered for further Smarties Book Prizes:

I feel now in writing this series, and after this award, that Harry should not be submitted from now on for the Smarties Award.

While this might be the last Smarties Award for the series, we’re sure it won’t be the last accolade for Rowling and the Boy Wizard!

Disclaimer: This article has been rewritten and backdated in order to re-create earlier MuggleNet articles.