TWENTY tomes have made it to the shortlist for the 2016 Lakeland Book of the Year awards.

Fifty books were originally submitted and the judges - author and columnist Hunter Davies OBE; broadcaster, writer and Cumbria Tourism chairman Eric Robson and BBC news broadcaster and Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfries, Fiona Armstrong - have spent the spring months poring over the entries.

Awards founder Hunter Davies said: "I don’t think in 32 years we have had so many books on subjects I have never before read books about - such as the history of cattle droving, the history of holy wells in Cumbria and what must be the ultimate story of the Alhambra cinema in Ambleside.”

Eric Robson described this year’s entries as “dynamic, exciting, sometimes off the wall” and added: “The annual Lakeland creative mix never ceases to amaze me.”

Fiona Armstrong said: “Yet another few weeks of bliss - working our way through Cumbria’s literary offerings. Every year you think there can’t possibly be more to write about - and each year there always is.”

The awards, which are administered by Cumbria Tourism will be presented at a charity lunch at the Armathwaite Hall Hotel on Bassenthwaite Lake on Wednesday July 6 when the judges will speak about the entries and announce the winners. This year, the charity is The Cumbria Flood Appeal, organised by Cumbria Community Foundation.

The shortlist for Lakeland Book of the Year 2016 (in alphabetical order) is as follows: Beauty in the Lap of Horror, by Stephen Matthews; Cattle Droving Through Cumbria 1600-1900, by Peter Roebuck; Cruel Tide, by Ruth Sutton; Five Boxes, by Mark Maclean; Frizington – Much More Than One Long Street, by Arlecdon History Group; Historic Cumbria Off the Beaten Track, by Beth and Steve Piper; I Wandered...., by Gary Boswell and Hideyuki Sobue; Kick One and They All Limp, by Geoff Pegg; Lakeland Waterways, by Robert Beale and Richard Kirkman; Springs of Living Water, by Father John Musther; Susan Breeks of Helbeck, by the late Rosemary Blackett-Ord; The Art of Falling, by Kim Moore; The Dambuilders, by Norman Nicholson; The Gathering Tide, by Karen Lloyd; The Gretna Railway Disaster 100 Years Ago, by Gordon L Routledge; The Lake District, Cumbria, by Christian Dymond; The Round in Bob Graham’s Footsteps, by Steve Chilton; Walking with Birds, by Colin Whittle; Will You Take Us On Please? by Ian Payne; Wordsworth, War and Waterloo, by Simon Bainbridge and Jeff Cowton.

They will be competing for one of six prizes with the ultimate accolade being The Hunter Davies Book of the Year 2016.