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Hello! We are no longer updating this Tumblr blog

You’ll still find lots of fun activities on this blog, but we’re no longer updating it and competitions will be closed and other items may no longer be available such as the Summer Holiday Challenge. 

You can see our brilliant new Usborne blog here, with articles ranging from ‘Top 3 tips for Writing Sci-Fi and Fantasy Stories’ to ‘Why the Moon changes shape’.

You can also sign up to our Saturday Activities newsletter to receive downloadable activity sheets and online links in your inbox every week.

And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

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The Usborne Outdoor Book - Outdoor adventures for the summer holidays

This summer we'll be challenging parents and kids to get out and about with their Usborne Outdoor Book and complete our Usborne Summer Holiday Challenge. We've created a challenge checklist of twelve fun things to do outdoors over the summer, from hunting for shells on the seashore to stargazing in the back garden and building a wilderness shelter. So download and print off your Summer Holiday Challenge Checklist and let the outdoor adventures begin! 

Show us what you’ve been up to on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #summerholidaychallenge.

Don’t have a copy of The Usborne Outdoor Book yet? Here are some free, printable activity sheets to get you started! 

Mark a trail for a friend to follow

Be a tree detective

Go stargazing

Navigate a route through the woods

Don’t forget to share your outdoor adventures with us using the hashtag #summerholidaychallenge on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Win tickets to Bugsy Malone with Completely Cassidy!

This competition is now closed. Thanks to all those who entered, a winner will be selected and contacted shortly. 

If like Cassidy Bond your child thinks it’s their inner superstar’s moment to shine, then now’s the time to inspire their love of the stage and storytelling.

We’ve partnered with the Lyric Hammersmith to offer you and your child the ultimate Completely Cassidy experience this summer.

You’ll get to not only meet Tamsyn Murray, the author of Completely Cassidy, but to join her in watching the world famous musical, Bugsy Malone, ask for writing advice during the interval, and then take away a bundle of Usborne books home to boot!

For your chance to see the hit musical on Sunday the 26th June 2016, simply tell us which play Cassidy is auditioning for in Completely Cassidy: Drama Queen.

Email your answer to [email protected] with the subject heading Bugsy Malone by the closing date of Sunday 19th June 2016.

Tickets valid for Sunday the 26th June 2016. T&Cs* apply.

Bugsy Malone is on at the Lyric from 11 June - 04 September 2016.

Goodluck!

*T&Cs Completely Cassidy Bugsy Malone Competition

This competition is open to children between the ages of 7-13 years and their guardians.

Children must have the permission of a parent or guardian before entering this competition.

Employees of Usborne Publishing or Usborne Books at Home or anyone professionally associated with this competition may not enter the competition.

Entrants must be resident in the UK.

All entries must arrive via email to [email protected] or by post to Usborne Publishing by 11.59pm on Sunday 19th June.

Entries that are incomplete, illegible, corrupted or fail to arrive by the closing date of Sunday 19th June will not be entered in the competition.

Your personal details will be used only for administering this competition and will be destroyed after a winner and two runner ups have been chosen.

The winner and two runner-ups will be notified on or before Tuesday 21st June 2016 and must acknowledge receipt of the notification by Wednesday 22nd June or else they forfeit the offer.

The winner will receive three tickets to the 17:30 performance of Bugsy Malone on Sunday the 26th June 2016 at the Lyric Hammersmith, London; children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Tickets are non-transferable.

The winner is responsible for paying for their own travel to and from the theatre.

The winner will also receive signed copies of Completely Cassidy: Accidental Genius, Star Reporter, and Drama Queen.

The winner may choose £50 worth of Usborne books but Usborne Publishing retains the right to substitute titles at their discretion.

Two runner-ups will receive signed copies of Completely Cassidy: Accidental Genius, Star Reporter, and Drama Queen.

As a condition of entry, the winner and runner-ups agree to take part in reasonable post event publicity and to the use of their names, photographs and stories in such publicity.

The winner’s and runner-ups' names will be displayed on http://usbornepublishing.tumblr.com/ and www.completelycassidy.co.uk. No correspondence will be entered into. The judges' decision is final.

By entering the competition each entrant agrees to be bound by these terms and conditions.

The Competition is organised by Usborne Publishing Limited, Usborne House, 83-85 Saffron Hill, London EC1N 8RT.

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Celebrating 35 years of Usborne Books at Home

Did you know that we are the only children’s book publisher with a direct selling division? That’s rather amazing in itself. But 2016 marks a real milestone for Usborne Books at Home as it celebrates its 35th Birthday.

“There's something about Books at Home that I find incredibly exciting. It's the enthusiasm, the dedication and the belief in the books.”

Peter Usborne, Founder and Managing Director of Usborne Publishing

Thousands of Independent Usborne Organisers across the UK and Europe have set about creating their own ‘pop-up bookshops’, selling our award-winning children’s books at book parties, fetes, fairs, schools and many other events. The mission is to get as many books into as many children’s hands as possible and in the process, allow people to create sustainable businesses that can turn into life-changing careers.

#35years35reasons

There are lots of brilliant reasons to join Usborne Books at Home. See for yourself by checking out the hashtag #35years35reasons. You’ll discover lots of stories from Usborne Organisers about why they decided to sign up. Take a look at some of the contributions so far:

“It's so reassuring to know that I have 35 years of experience, support and success behind my own business. #35years35reasons” – Clare Johnson

“Sharing these wonderful books with others has helped me to develop my own self-confidence and self-belief. #35years35reasons” – Michelle Smith

“Usborne Books at Home really can give you the opportunity to create the life you want. #35years35reasons” – Carly Cavilla-Hunt

“It’s been 10 years since I joined Usborne. It has changed my life. More money, more time with the children, great friends and superb books. #35years35reasons” – Natalie Fieldhouse

Being an Independent Usborne Organiser is fun, flexible, family-centred and requires no previous selling experience. All you need is a passion for Usborne books and a willingness to share that with others. It really is that simple!

Find out more about joining Usborne Books at Home today.

Happy 35th Birthday Usborne Books at Home - here’s to the next 35 years!

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The Royal Society Young People’s Book Award Shortlist

We're excited to let you know that TWO Usborne books have been shortlisted for The Royal Society Young People's Book Prize. The Usborne Official Astronaut's Handbook and Lift the Flap First Questions and Answers How Do Flowers Grow? are both shortlisted for this prestigious award, which celebrates the best science books for young people. The winner will be announced later this year - keep your fingers crossed! 

You can find out more about our two shortlisted titles, and other Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize winners at www.usborne.com/scienceprize. 

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Why I Wrote Ballet Stars: Jane Lawes on International Dance Day

On International Dance Day, Jane Lawes reveals why she wrote the Ballet Stars series.

I dream, breathe and live for ballet. I mean, I like other things too, but none of them are as amazing as ballet. It seems impossible to get that feeling from anything in my off-stage life, but writing ballet stories comes closer than anything else. My favourite thing about writing Ballet Stars was that I got to dance on stage (in my mind) every day!

Ballet Stars: Perfect Pirouette, Amazing Arabesque and Sparkling Solo.

I started dancing when I was very young and I can’t remember a time when ballet wasn’t a big part of my life. When I was really little, I liked ballet classes because they were fun. I loved the way it felt to learn steps and dances, to skip and twirl and jump.

I was 9 when my dance school put on its first show. I was quite shy, and the thought of performing for an audience was really scary, but I soon found out that preparing for a performance is great fun.

We performed a ballet of Beatrix Potter’s stories and my friends and I were mice. When it was time to go on stage, I was so nervous. What if I forgot the steps and messed it all up? But as soon as I started dancing, my nerves turned into excitement. It was the most thrilling thing I’d ever done!

When I started writing Ballet Stars, I knew that I wanted to put all of those feelings into the stories.

                                Little Jane Lawes in Beatrix Potter

So in Perfect Pirouette, I made Tash someone who loves performing, but also enjoys dancing just for herself, practising simply because she likes the way dancing makes her feel. Amazing Arabesque is all about the friends you make through dancing and how important they become – and how much fun you can have dancing together! And in Sparkling Solo Tash gets to experience the magic of the stage.

One of my favourite things about dancing is the feeling I get when I work hard and rehearse a show for weeks and weeks. I really feel part of something wonderful, and then I get to share the special show I’ve helped to create with an audience. I feel the unique mix of nerves and excitement that buzzes through my body in the minute before I step out onto the stage. I wanted my characters to experience all that, too.

Janes Lawes is on Twitter @jane_lawes. You can find out more about the Ballet Stars series at www.usborne.com. 

Discover more brilliant ballet books at www.usborne.com/ballet.

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Tamsyn Murray launches new animal series at Paradise Wildlife Park

We’re thrilled to announce a brand-new series from popular Completely Cassidy author Tamsyn Murray!

There's paws, claws, feathers and fur - welcome to Tanglewood Animal Park, an exciting new series for children aged 8+. Zoe's dreams of becoming an animal-keeper look set to come true when her family take over the running of Tanglewood Animal Park. But disaster strikes when the park's newest arrival, baby zebra Flash, escapes from his paddock just before the park's grand reopening. Wild animal adventures await inside the gates of Tanglewood - it’s bursting with furry, feathery fun!

Baby Zebra Rescue is out 1st July 2016, but it’s available to pre-order now!

This week Tamsyn visited Paradise Wildlife Park, the inspiration behind the new series and the place where she did most of her research. 

Tamsyn says, “I'm so lucky to have wonderful Paradise Wildlife Park right on my doorstep. I first had the idea for a book set in an animal park while I was wandering around Paradise with my little boy and knew straight away it would make a brilliant story. My favourite animals are the snow leopards...no, wait - the tigers. Or maybe the lemurs, or the zebras or the meerkats. I've even learned to love the tarantula and anyone who knows me will tell you that's nothing short of a miracle!”

Pre-order Tanglewood Animal Park - Baby Zebra Rescue now! 

You can find out more about Tamsyn at www.tamsynmurray.co.uk, and follow her on Twitter at @TamsynTweetie!

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Usborne’s Shakespeare Celebration

You might have heard that this weekend marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. Here at Usborne, we’ve decided to celebrate one of Britain’s most famous playwrights with a brand new sticker book!

Shakespeare Sticker Book is full of Shakespearean scenes to bring to life, from famous plays such as Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet to dramatic scenes at the famous Globe theatre.

“A great, fun way to introduce William Shakespeare to younger children.” - Lovereading4Kids

“Snippets of historical information make this a great introduction to Shakespeare's life and plays.” - Parents in Touch

Don’t forget to find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, where we’ll be giving away Shakespeare-themed goodies all weekend!

Want to find out more about Shakespeare? Why not visit the Usborne Quicklinks website for videos, games and more. 

You can see all Usborne’s books about Shakespeare at www.usborne.com/shakespeare

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Usborne Easter Treats - Our Favourite Books for the Holidays

Spring is finally in the air, and with it comes a brand new bundle of books just in time for the Easter holidays. We've chosen our favourites to keep little ones busy come rain or shine. 

Fingerprint Activities Animals

This awesome fingerprinting book is the perfect mess-free option for rainy-day creativity. Little ones will love learning how to fingerprint animals from a prickly hedgehog and an Easter chick to a fearsome crocodile and a proud peacock. 

Knitbone Pepper and the Last Circus Tiger

This second book in the wonderfully whimsical Knitbone Pepper series is full of mayhem, chuckles and woofs. When Knitbone and his beloved owner Winnie invite the circus to Starcross, the spooks are so excited! But amidst the magicians, the acrobats and the clowns, Knitbone senses something beastly in the big top…  

Garden Sticker and Colouring Book

This activity book is ideal for those days when the weather means you can’t get outside to play in the real-life garden. There are over 200 stickers to add to scenes of flowerbeds in bloom and bugs munching lettuce leaves, and lots of colouring pages too. 

Baby’s Very First Play Book Farm Words

This little book for babies and toddlers is a lovely way of introducing new words and animals, especially if you’re planning to visit a farm over the Easter holidays! 

You can see all our new books for April on our website here. 

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Usborne Easter Baking - Lollipop Biscuits

What better way to spend the Easter holidays than spending quality time with your little ones and baking something delicious? 

These lovely lollipop biscuits from The Cookie and Biscuit Baking Kit look gorgeous and taste great! They’re simple enough for kids to try on their own with supervision, too! 

Click on the image to see the full recipe. 

The Usborne Cookie and Biscuit Baking Kit is out now. Take a look at the video below for expert icing tips from author Abi Wheatley!

Why not let us know how you get on? You can share pictures of your Easter holiday baking with us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. 

You can find lots more lovely books for Easter at www.usborne.com/Easter.

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Usborne’s Best Books for British Science Week

This week is British Science Week, a national celebration of all things science. Whether your little ones are fascinated with the human body, full of questions about the world around them or dreaming about flying to the furthest reaches of space, we think we’ll have a book for them.

100 Things to Know About Space

100 Things to Know About Space is full of fascinating facts, clever cartoons and new things to learn about space on every page, from how to escape a black hole to why astronauts learn wilderness survival skills. This book is so ahead of its time it isn’t even out yet! But don’t worry; you’ll be able to buy it in all good bookshops from April onwards.

The Big Book of the Body

We just love the Big Book of the Body. It has huge fold-out pages that fold out to let children explore a giant skeleton, learn how their hearts pump blood, find out what’s inside their heads and see what happens to the food they eat. The human body is a UK National Curriculum subject now – this will give children a head start.

365 Science Activities

There’s a new scientific discovery to be made every day of the year with this fun activity book. Simple experiments let children figure out the answers to questions such as ‘Why is bread full of holes?’, ‘What does DNA look like?’ and ‘How are rainbows made?’ 365 Science Activities was shortlisted for the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize last year.

The Usborne Official Astronaut’s Handbook

Little space enthusiasts will have been following Tim Peake’s mission to the International Space Station with growing excitement. Tim himself wrote a personal message to readers in this funny and fascinating how-to guide to space travel, and it’s full of expert information and advice from the UK and European Space Agencies too.

BookTrust described this book as “A fun, fact-packed and practical guide to launching your interstellar career!”

Lift-the-Flap Questions and Answers: How Do Flowers Grow?

This colourful lift-the-flap book is a brilliant introduction to nature and science for curious young minds. Each page asks a different question, such as ‘Why do plants have flowers?’, ‘Where do seeds come from?’, ‘Why do leaves fall?’. The colourful illustrations, large and simple text and chunky flaps reveal the answers.

You can see lots more awesome Usborne science books at www.usborne.com/science. 

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Usborne’s Best Books for the Half-Term Holidays

We’re super excited about the half-term, and we know it’s going to take A LOT to keep your little ones busy and entertained for a whole week. So here’s a peek at our favourite stories, non-fiction and activity books that are sure to keep children of all ages happy.

Peep inside a Fairy Tale Little Red Riding Hood

This gorgeous book is just the thing to share with little ones over the holidays. Peep through intricate, laser-cut holes into the dark woods, lift the flaps to see what's beyond the trees... and keep an eye out for the Big Bad Wolf!

My Very First Dinosaurs Book

A ROAR-some read for dinosaur fans, full of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures from the horned Triceratops and huge Brachiosaurus to the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex. With lots to spot and talk about, from how big and small dinosaurs were, to what they ate and where they came from.

Over 100 Animal Doodles

This pocket-sized book is full of animals to doodle, details to draw and scenes to fill with life. Simple instructions show children how to draw the teeth and scales on fearsome crocodiles, doodle ants in an anthill and turn simple shapes into monkeys that swing through the trees. This will keep children absorbed for hours!

Sticker Dolly Dressing Fashion Designer London Collection

One for aspiring fashion designers, this colourful sticker book  has over 350 stickers inspired by iconic London fashions to add to the pages to create elegant garden party dresses, geometric sixties prints, eighties punk outfits and more.

Delightful Doodle Pad

This colourful, tear-off pad has over 200 inspiring ideas for doodles and drawings. Children can decorate surfboards on a sandy beach, draw a shower of raindrops, customise t-shirts, and more. It’s perfect for long journeys and rainy days.

You can see more of our brilliant books for children on the Usborne website. 

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Behind the Scenes: Writing Usborne’s First Coding Books

If you’re a fan of our original coding books from the 1980s, you’ll be excited to hear that we’ve made 14 of the most popular titles free to download from our website!

Our Digital Director, Lisa Watts, was part of the team who wrote our original coding books. We asked her to tell us all about it...  

“In the 1980s Usborne published the first, illustrated children’s books on computers and coding – or programming as we called it then.

I was part of a team of Usborne editors who worked with computer experts, including 16-year-old programmers, to write Usborne’s programming books. It all began when Peter Usborne brought a ZX81 into the office, arguably the first really affordable home computer. It only had 1KB of memory, but that seemed incredible at the time! We were thrilled to make our names appear on the TV screen, and play simple games of Pong.

Robot illustrations from Programming Tricks and Skills.

We had every model of personal computer in the office and laboriously typed in the listings for spacegames and battlegames on all the different machines to make sure they worked. We weren’t computer experts and we taught ourselves to program through working on books such as Programming Tricks and Skills,  BASIC for Beginners – and even Machine Code for Beginners. 

For Usborne, the challenge was to use images as well as words to convey the information and make the books visually attractive. We used pictures of teams of helpful little robots, space invader-type characters, speech bubbles and step-by-step cartoons to explain concepts such as ROM and RAM and variables and subroutines.

It was in the heady, empowering days of the first affordable personal computers such as the ZX Spectrum, the Commodore 64, BBC micro, TRS-80 and other names all but forgotten now apart from by the kids who grew up with them and spent hours typing in the listings for simple shoot ‘em down style games and adventure games — and teaching themselves to code.”

Many of today’s tech professionals were inspired by Usborne computer books, and the books are still used in computer clubs with 1980s computers today. To celebrate this we have made 14 of the Usborne 1980s computer books free to download from the Usborne website at www.usborne.com/coding

Last year we published two new computer books for today’s generation, Lift-the-Flap Computers and Coding and Coding for Beginners Using Scratch. 

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Usborne’s Busy Helicopter and the Children’s Air Ambulance

This week our Busy Helicopter Book really was out and about – we sent it to visit the Children’s Air Ambulance team in Warwickshire! We’ll be offering 20% off and free UK delivery on Busy Helicopter Book  with the code AIRAMBULANCE on our website until Sunday 14th February, and we’re asking you to donate the money you save to the Children’s Air Ambulance to help support their excellent work.

The Children’s Air Ambulance flies poorly children between hospitals to make sure they can get the best treatment possible. Their helicopter is the only dedicated children’s service in the country, helping extremely sick children get to the best hospital for them as quickly as possible.

In the Busy Helicopter Book, our little pull-back helicopter flies around the page to pick up patients and take them to hospital too!

You can get 20% off Busy Helicopter Book this week, plus free UK delivery when you buy from our website. Just enter the code AIRAMBULANCE at checkout!

Why not donate the money you save to the Children’s Air Ambulance? 

Bella (pictured below) was just 6 months old when she developed heart problems and needed open heart surgery. The Children’s Air Ambulance flew her from Cambridge to Leeds in just 57 minute – a journey that would have taken four hours by road. Bella is now an independent, happy little girl who will be three years old this November.

Help the Children’s Air Ambulance continue to save the lives of children like Bella and donate here.

Enter the code AIRAMBULANCE at checkout on our website and get 20% off our Busy Helicopter Book, plus free UK delivery!

For more information about the amazing work the Children’s Air Ambulance do, visit their website.

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Five Art books for the family this Christmas

Here at Usborne we've got creativity coming out of our fingertips with our top art books for Christmas – there’s fingerprinting for the kids, a colouring book to soothe your Christmas nerves, a beautiful art history book for all the family and art puzzles and activities to entertain budding artists. We’ll be offering these top picks for HALF PRICE until midnight Saturday 12th December. Details at the bottom of this post.

Hardback, RRP £9.99 or £5.00 with promo code XMASART

Fuel your child's imagination by encouraging them to create tons of colourful characters and scenes with the help of this fun-filled book of Fingerprint Activities with its own brightly coloured inkpad. Adding the spots to a giraffe has never been so easy (trust us, we’ve tried!), and yes... the ink disappears easily with a little soap and water.

Perfect for your child AND you (and Usborne staff!), Decorative Arts Patterns to Colour has beautifully intricate and sophisticated patterns to pore over and colour with your favourite pencils. The vintage advertisements are particularly lovely if you have a fondness for graphic design, as are the William Morris inspired fabric patterns if you’re a textile artist in the making. You’ll start seeing patterns in everything!

Paperback, RRP £9.99 or £5.00 with promo code XMASART

If, like us,  you’ve stared at a gallery wall and found yourself flummoxed, then The Usborne Book of Art is an excellent addition to your family shelves. Over 200 fabulous photographs of the world's greatest masterpieces provide a clear introduction to the story of western art, including the complexities of modern art — which, we discovered, contrary to how contemporary it sounds, actually dates back to the 1850s!

Paperback, RRP £20.00 or £10.00 with promo code XMASART

This write-in art puzzle book has dozens of stickers, colouring-in tasks and puzzles that will entertain your child for hours. Published in association with The National Gallery, children can spot details in pictures, create a Cubist portrait or Art Deco patterns, draw Lowry stick people or make a Surrealist collage and create their own sticker art galleries. By the time they’ve finished, they’ll be art history experts!

Paperback, RRP £9.99 or £5.00 with promo code XMASART

Know someone excited about the return of Star Wars this winter? Make their Christmas with this wonderful 100 Paper Spaceships to fold and fly craft book. A hundred space-inspired tear-out sheets means they can create whole fleets of spacecraft and alien motherships to play with. There are clear and simple folding instructions, and handy tips on how to maintain flight (which is very important when you’re in the middle of a Starfleet battle).

Paperback, RRP £8.99 or £4.50 with promo code XMASART

To help with your Christmas shopping, we’ll be offering these books at HALF PRICE until midnight, 12th December 2015 when you buy online from www.usborne.com. 

This special offer is available only while stocks last, using promo code XMASART at the checkout.

If you’d like to receive more recommendations and special offers from us direct to your inbox, sign up for the Usborne newsletter.

You can also use the Usborne Gift finder to search for books by age.

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The Boy who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair shortlisted for The Blue Peter Book Awards 2016

Congratulations Lara Williamson and THE BOY WHO SAILED THE OCEAN IN AN ARMCHAIR, shortlisted for ‘Best Story’ in the Blue Peter Book Awards 2016!

The Blue Peter Book Awards celebrate the best authors, most creative illustrators and the greatest reads for children.

Read all about the awards and see the full shortlist on the Booktrust website.

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Give the gift of Holly Bourne this Christmas

Head over to the Usborne Twitter page for the chance to WIN a signed limited edition of Holly Bourne’s YA novel AM I NORMAL YET? plus a gift-wrapped copy for a friend! https://twitter.com/Usborne

Simply RT the tweet and follow the Usborne page to be in with chance of winning this fab prize!