A supernatural chiller and a novel written in broad Scots were among the winners in this year's Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books, announced yesterday.

More than 4200 schoolchildren from across the country voted for their favourite reads.

James Robertson and Matthew Fitt won the Early Years (age 0-7) category for their use of broad Scots language in Katie's Moose, while Alex Nye won the Younger Readers (age 8-11) award for her supernatural novel Chill.

The Older Readers (age 12-16) title was won by Cathy Cassidy for her book Scarlett.

She said: "Scarlett is a story about friendship and families, and deals with some difficult issues like what it might be like for all kids if parents get divorced, with lots of laughs and some sad things too."

Prizes were also awarded to children who had written the best reviews of shortlisted books while author Marie MacCauley was presented with the prize for the best Gaelic children's book of 2007, Uspaig-agus S-S.

Extracts from all the successful titles were read out at yesterday's event by pupils from St Peter's Primary in Dumbarton, John Paul Academy, Glasgow, the Glasgow Gaelic School and Nethermains Primary in Falkirk.