Congratulations to Jane Higgins, winner of the 2010 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing, for her apocalyptic action novel The Bridge.

The Bridge, set in a war-torn city in 2199, is the story of 16-year-old Nik who dreams of being chosen for the Intelligence Services—it’s either that or be conscripted to fight Breken hostiles over the river on Southside. When his school is bombed and his young friend Sol is kidnapped, Nik and Sol’s sister, Fyffe, track the kidnappers into the Southside slums. When Fyffe disappears, Nik infiltrates Breken high command in his hunt for her and Sol. There he discovers the truth about the hostiles, their uprising and his own past.

Higgins, a research sociologist at Lincoln University in Christchurch, has won $10,000 and a publishing contract. Her debut novel, The Bridge will be published in August 2011.

Richard Newsome’s The Emerald Casket—sequel to the inaugural winner of The Prize, The Billionaire’s Curse—has just been released. And last year’s winner This is Shyness, by Melbourne bookseller and author Leanne Hall, will hit the bookshelves next month.