Shortlist announced for the 2009 Penguin Orange Readers’ Group Prize
London, 20 May 2009: Four reading groups from across the UK have been shortlisted for the 2009 Penguin Orange Readers’ Group Prize; the UK’s only annual award for reading groups.
Now in its eighth year, the prize forms part of Orange’s portfolio of literary partnerships. Entrants to the competition were asked to demonstrate how they made reading social and submissions were made via the online book community www.spinebreakers.co.uk.
The four shortlisted reading groups are:
· Book Club and Book Tree, (Edinburgh). Jen Campbell recently finished her English Literature degree at Edinburgh University, where she ran her online book forum with over 100 topics for discussion. This proved so popular that she launched the Book Club and Obsessive Book Club in August 2008 and there are now over 5,000 international members with a diverse age range from 13 – 50, hailing from Australia to Finland.
· Eliot Reading Group, (Liverpool). Inspired by the Ruskin Reading Group (see below) Dr Celia Bell started this group for patients with severe mental health problems in November 2008 at Ashworth Hospital. The membership of the group is open and different patients and staff attend each week.
· North London Reading Group, (London). Paul Drinkwater began the group and its website in 2007 with a simple web page asking if anybody wanted to join his reading group. Over 100 enquiries later, there is now a network of over 100 people across North London with four sister groups in addition to the original NLRG.
· Ruskin Reading Group, (Liverpool). Dr David Fearnley formed this reading group in February 2008 within a high security psychiatric hospital with the help of the Get into Reading Project, associated with the University of Liverpool. Patients, staff, visitors and students all meet weekly on the ward. The project helps build patients confidence as well as being a therapeutic experience.
Chloe Bingham (12) from Haringey, North London, was highly commended but ineligible as she was under 16. Chloe acknowledged this on her entry but wanted to enter and highlight teens doing something positive with their lives. She has set up an online group called Book Chat, a Facebook quiz and is an active blogger on reading site Fronter.
Kate Mosse, author, Orange Prize Honorary Director and Chair of judges for the 2009 Readers’ Group Prize, will choose a winner to be announced on 27th May.
The winner receives a cheque for £1,000 and a pair of tickets to the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009 awards ceremony in London on 3rd June. Runners up will receive sets of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009 shortlisted books.
Magda Lojszczyk, Partnerships Manager, Orange UK commented: "As the only prize of its kind in the UK, this competition continues to highlight the powerful effect reading has on people’s lives.”
“Whether it is creating online book forums which inspire discussions from members all over the world, to the therapeutic benefits of a hospital reading group; we are delighted to reward this kind of grassroots passion.”
London, 20 May 2009: Four reading groups from across the UK have been shortlisted for the 2009 Penguin Orange Readers’ Group Prize; the UK’s only annual award for reading groups.
Now in its eighth year, the prize forms part of Orange’s portfolio of literary partnerships. Entrants to the competition were asked to demonstrate how they made reading social and submissions were made via the online book community www.spinebreakers.co.uk.
The four shortlisted reading groups are:
· Book Club and Book Tree, (Edinburgh). Jen Campbell recently finished her English Literature degree at Edinburgh University, where she ran her online book forum with over 100 topics for discussion. This proved so popular that she launched the Book Club and Obsessive Book Club in August 2008 and there are now over 5,000 international members with a diverse age range from 13 – 50, hailing from Australia to Finland.
· Eliot Reading Group, (Liverpool). Inspired by the Ruskin Reading Group (see below) Dr Celia Bell started this group for patients with severe mental health problems in November 2008 at Ashworth Hospital. The membership of the group is open and different patients and staff attend each week.
· North London Reading Group, (London). Paul Drinkwater began the group and its website in 2007 with a simple web page asking if anybody wanted to join his reading group. Over 100 enquiries later, there is now a network of over 100 people across North London with four sister groups in addition to the original NLRG.
· Ruskin Reading Group, (Liverpool). Dr David Fearnley formed this reading group in February 2008 within a high security psychiatric hospital with the help of the Get into Reading Project, associated with the University of Liverpool. Patients, staff, visitors and students all meet weekly on the ward. The project helps build patients confidence as well as being a therapeutic experience.
Chloe Bingham (12) from Haringey, North London, was highly commended but ineligible as she was under 16. Chloe acknowledged this on her entry but wanted to enter and highlight teens doing something positive with their lives. She has set up an online group called Book Chat, a Facebook quiz and is an active blogger on reading site Fronter.
Kate Mosse, author, Orange Prize Honorary Director and Chair of judges for the 2009 Readers’ Group Prize, will choose a winner to be announced on 27th May.
The winner receives a cheque for £1,000 and a pair of tickets to the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009 awards ceremony in London on 3rd June. Runners up will receive sets of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009 shortlisted books.
Magda Lojszczyk, Partnerships Manager, Orange UK commented: "As the only prize of its kind in the UK, this competition continues to highlight the powerful effect reading has on people’s lives.”
“Whether it is creating online book forums which inspire discussions from members all over the world, to the therapeutic benefits of a hospital reading group; we are delighted to reward this kind of grassroots passion.”
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