Pictured from left to right is Steve Oakes, author; Frances Eales, author; Jenny Colley, publisher; His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh; J.J. Wilson, author; and Antonia Clare, author. Photo courtesy of Gina Giannella

Silver City, NM - J.J. Wilson, Writer-In-Residence at Western New Mexico University, was recently awarded the English Language Book Award by the Duke of Edinburgh for his textbook Speakout.

Wilson, along with his co-authors, accepted the award on November 9, from the Duke of Edinburgh himself at an awards ceremony in Buckingham Palace. He is only the second person to have won the award twice.

Selected by an expert panel of judges from the English-Speaking Union (ESU), each year, the Duke of Edinburgh English Language Book Award is the biggest prize available for those writing about language and language learning. Every year, dozens of nominations are submitted from around the word. Speakout was named the Overall Winner.

Speakout was published by Pearson Education and written by Wilson, Antonia Clare, Steve Oakes, and Frances Eales. It is a 6-level series that took Wilson and his co-authors 5 years to write.

"We included a DVD full of film clips at the back of each book as we felt this would be a real benefit to learning of English," said Wilson.

Including a visual approach to the text was important to Wilson who has written books for English learners for several years.

"Young people these days are visually literate, they spend so much time watching clips and interacting with the moving image," said Wilson. "We just knew this was the way to go."

Wilson was previously recognized by the ESU in 2008 for his book How to Teach Listening.

"I'm pretty thrilled, obviously, but it makes it extra special to be able to get the award with old friends and colleagues this time," said Wilson.

Wilson teaches graduate courses at WNMU and is a full-time writer currently working on three contracted books and co-editing an encyclopedia.

Located in Silver City, New Mexico, Western New Mexico University has served the people of the state of New Mexico and its surrounding areas as a comprehensive, regional, rural, public coeducational university since 1893 and caters to a student body diverse in age, culture, language and ethnic background.