Firstly, I am absolutely blown away by the number of people who entered. I honestly thought I'd be left with books left over, but no! And with this goes a general apology to everyone who did enter, but who I didn't pick.

Second, people who chose octopuses are hopefully going to be all over the Children of Time sequel, Children of Ruin, when it comes out next year.

Thirdly — a number of suggestions came in multiple times, so double apologies if you picked one of the below but didn't win.

But on to our winners: the nine below will hopefully receive a book in the post in due course:

Tim Abbot-Cole — Silverfish-kinden (and yes, more than one person suggested Silverfish!)

Kate Dunstone — Uplifted hedgehogs

Lindsay Taylor — Giant Weta-kinden

AR Teschner — Uplifted tardigrades

Paul Grindrod — Uplifted sloths

Graeme Robb — Uplifted Scottish Midges

Tyler Edwards — Daddy Long-Legs-kinden (the spider-like arachnid, not the crane fly)

Brian Lasecki — Uplifted Ant-lions

Andrew Skinner — Uplifted Armoured Snails (along with a fascinating set of notes on these critters, which I was not familiar with)