John Dickson says he is ‘stoked!’ to have won the 2005 Australian Christian Book of the Year Award but believes another book may have been more deserving.

Dr Dickson received the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge’s (SPCK) top honour for his book A Spectator’s Guide to World Religions: An Introduction To The Big Five (Blue Bottle Press).

However, Dr Dickson says Brian Rosner’s Beyond Greed (Matthias Media) – awarded equal second place with Brian Hill’s Exploring Religion in School: A National Priority (Open Book) – would have been a worthy winner.

“There were some other great books short listed and I am tempted to say more deserving, particularly Brian Rosner’s Beyond Greed. It’s a book of great importance, so to beat him is very exciting.”

The judges called Dr Dickson’s book ‘engaging and well-written’, providing ‘a clear, accessible, unbiased and balanced presentation of the major faiths’.

This is the second time Dr Dickson has won the SPCK Christian book of the year, having won in 2000 for Simply Christianity: Beyond Religion (Matthias Media).

Ridley College, Melbourne, played host to the ceremony yesterday where Dr Dickson says he was ‘quite nervous’.

Dr Dickson says it was a great encouragement to receive the award.

“To have a committee of people who read a lot of books say they appreciate my approach and content really makes me want to keep writing.”

Dr Dickson has just penned A Spectator’s Guide to Jesus which he calls ‘a popular level historical account of Jesus’ life’ which he hopes will be released by Christmas.

Dr Dickson’s latest book is Promoting the Gospel – a Practical Guide to the Biblical Art of Sharing Your Faith (Blue Bottle Press).