Meet the winners of our 'spend and win' competition!
At the start of 2025, we gave you the chance to win £500/€500 in cash to spend on anything you desired. To enter, you just needed to spend your National Book Tokens with any participating bookshop.
Congratulations to Enéa and Mathew, who got to enjoy the experience of choosing new books in their favourite bookshops, and have each won a big cash prize to spend. Find out what they bought with their National Book Tokens - and what they'll be buying with their prize funds - below.
National Book Tokens gift cards can be bought and spent in bookshops across the UK and Ireland. Find your nearest at nationalbooktokens.com/find-a-bookshop.
£500 winner: Enéa
Enéa, age 10, spent her National Book Token at the Ivybridge Bookshop in Devon. Her parents, Rhona and Aaron, entered the prize draw on her behalf.
“I love reading. I spent [my National Book Token] in the Ivybridge Bookshop because there are many options of books to choose from and because the owner helps me choose based on what I like to read.”
With her prize money, Enéa will be buying more book tokens, adopting a Gorilla, treating herself to some delicious Costa goodies – and says she’ll share some with her brother!
Enéa’s mum, Rhona, says: “we are so pleased our little bookworm has had such an amazing opportunity. She is going to be over the moon.”
€500 winner: Mathew
Mathew spent his National Book Token at the Maynooth Bookshop in County Kildare.
Mathew says: “It's great having an independent bookshop in your hometown and the Maynooth Bookshop stock an amazingly broad set of genres for such a cute space. I had been given a National Book Token for my birthday, and I went to the Maynooth Bookshop with a particular book in mind (the amazing Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh) that I knew I could order if they didn't have it on the shelves.
"As I was looking, however, I noticed the name of a familiar author and grabbed The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey. I love a space opera, and Corey's 'The Expanse' series are some of the best, so I was excited to enter their new (maybe?) universe and explore it. So, I bought this one with my token and ordered the Emily Tesh book at the same time.
“I have lots of plans for the prize money, the most important is taking my partner out for dinner, obviously. I will definitely be buying more books - I'm working my way through 'The Murderbot Diaries' series by Martha Wells - more excellent sci-fi fun. I'm also a card-carrying Formula 1 nerd, so this will pay for my TV subscription for the season, and I think that will leave some left for a couple of gifts for my family, too.”
Discover
Discover our book recommendations
We've got recommendations for all readers, from authors, booksellers, and our book-loving team.
Gift cards
Check your gift card balance
Got a National Book Token? Check how much is left on it, plus add it to your mobile wallet.
Gift cards
Give a gift beyond words
Give recipients of all ages the excitement of choosing a book as well as the joy of reading it.
