New
Zealand’s current best children’s book authors and illustrators will be
revealed in June 2015, as LIANZA (The Library and Information Association of
New Zealand Aotearoa) turns a fresh page in the illustrious history of its
Children’s Book Awards.
Submissions
for the coveted LIANZA prizes open on 10 November, 2014 and, if past years are
anything to go by, they will be of a very high standard.
What
makes the awards so unique is that they are judged solely by New Zealand
librarians, who see first-hand the impact these books have on their target
audience.
LIANZA
President Corin Haines said, being judged by librarians “is what makes the
LIANZA Children’s Book Awards really special”. “Librarians interact with the
readers of these books on a daily basis and are uniquely positioned to know
what is really making a hit and what is likely to appeal.”
In
2014, the acclaimed Joy Cowley won LIANZA’s top award and NZ’s longest running
literary accolade – the Esther Glen Prize for Junior Fiction. The award was
first won by Stella Morice in 1945 and later by literary legends such as
Margaret Mahy, Maurice Gee, Kate de Goldi and Fleur Beale.
“The
main purpose of the LIANZA awards is to connect New Zealand communities with
the best in New Zealand children’s and young people’s literature, and to get
kids reading,” said Mr Haines. “Following the huge surge in participation we
had from a new generation of readers last year, I am delighted to announce that
Hell Pizza has renewed its sponsorship of the 2015 awards.”
In
support of last year’s awards, Hell launched a major initiative to promote
children’s reading. This included distributing 100,000 little devil horn
bookmarks, 15,000 book bags and 100,000 ‘8-Book Pizza Wheels’ to schools and
libraries nationwide. Kids needed to read eight books and have them recorded on
their wheel by their librarian to be rewarded with a free, healthy ‘333 Kids’
Pizza’.
Young
bookworms in some smaller towns that do not have a Hell Pizza store were able
to redeem their pizza wheels at the Hell Pizza Caravan as it toured the North
Island.
South
Taranaki District Council librarian Pamela Jones couldn’t be more thrilled with
the success of the campaign. “We were staggered by the response. Children and
families we have never seen in the Hawera library before are spending hours
here, reading, choosing books, doing our activities and getting to know the
librarians. Then to have the caravan turn up, so they could redeem their
vouchers, was just brilliant.”
John
McIntyre, owner of the nationally renowned Children’s Bookshop in Wellington,
said: “the collaboration with Hell turned out to be an inspired partnership.
Hell was a generous and committed sponsor, and the Pizza Wheel reading
challenge was a hugely successful campaign.”
A
Hell Pizza caravan tour is planned for 2015 and LIANZA will be delivering
fantastic new programmes in partnership with libraries. To find out more about
the 2014 reading challenge and caravan tour visit http://www.satanslittlehelper.co.nz/
Submissions
for the awards are open from 10 November, 2014 to 10 February, 2015. LIANZA is
accepting books published in the 2014 calendar year.
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