Teenage Readers to Win £1000 with the Penguin Orange Readers’ Group Prize 2009

London 16 April 2009:

Orange is offering teen readers the chance to win £1000 with the new look 2009 Penguin Orange Readers’ Group Prize.

The Penguin Orange Reader’s Group Prize, the UK’s only prize to find the reading group of the year, is being re-launched through the teenage website Spinebreakers, http://www.spinebreakers.co.uk/, as part of a campaign to engage younger readers with the Orange Prize for Fiction.

Last month, Orange announced the appointment of a youth panel to shadow the judging process of the official Orange Prize 2009 judges.

Now in its eighth year, the Penguin Orange Readers’ Group Prize forms part of Orange’s portfolio of literary partnerships.

Entrants are asked to demonstrate how they make reading social, whether it’s through book groups, blogs or Facebook. The competition will also be promoted through social networking sites to encourage younger readers to share their reading group experiences.

First prize is a cheque for £1000 plus two tickets to the Orange Prize for Fiction awards ceremony in June and two runners up will receive a set of the 2009 Orange Prize shortlisted books.
“The concept of reading groups has been evolving from the traditional monthly meetings in homes and libraries for some time,” said Kate Mosse, author and Chair of judges for the 2009 Readers’ Group Prize. “We want to find those readers who are chatting about books in really exciting, diverse and creative ways such as online, on Twitter, on walls and forums or through blogs and where better to find out how this is happening than amongst younger readers.”
The entry form can be found on the teenage website spinebreakers.co.uk, the Orange Prize website, orangeprize.co.uk and via readers.penguin.co.uk.