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Thousands Of Local Children Contributed To Christina Gabbitas' National Children's Literature Festivals Book Award’s Success By Voting For The Book That Most Engaged Them
Children and young people across the country were invited to participate in the first Children's Literature Festivals Book Awards 2023, founded by Author Christina Gabbitas, and vote for the book they most engaged with.
Ten libraries and several schools were chosen to take part, including: Liverpool, Oldham in Greater Manchester, Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Oswaldtwistle, Keighley, Doncaster, Selby, Blackburn with Darwen, and Brixton.
'Reading and knowledge are power, not just educationally but socially and emotionally'. - Christina Gabbitas, Founder of Children's Literature Festivals Book Awards.
Award-winning author, Christina Gabbitas, who founded the awards, said: 'It was great to see so many schools and libraries encouraging their children to get involved nationally with the Book Awards and access high-quality children's books for free.'
Christina launched the Book Awards to accompany her charity, Children's Literature Festivals, which aims to give children and families from less privileged backgrounds access to free literature festivals and books.
Suzanne Carter of Eastwood Community School, who took part in the Book Awards, said: 'Our Keighley schools have absolutely loved taking part. We created a book trail through all of our eleven schools in Keighley. We very much appreciate Christina’s efforts to ensure Keighley children receive these valuable experiences of the festivals and book awards.'
The awards enhanced a sense of community, teamwork, and reading initiative as hundreds of children rallied together in their local schools and libraries to contribute to the awards.
The Children's Literature Festivals Book Awards 2023 was sponsored by Reading Solutions UK.
Christina has been nationally recognised for her philanthropy work and was named a Coronation Champion by Her Majesty, The Queen Consort.
There are over 350 literature festivals in the UK, with less than 10% dedicated to children. The aim of Children's Literature Festivals is to create more emphasis on encouraging children to enjoy books, with an increased number of dedicated children's festivals, and concentrating on more deprived and challenging areas. They want to be inclusive, not exclusive – to help our children and communities feel valued. With their aim to organise and take literature festivals into towns and areas that don't currently have representation.
Christina continued: 'Growing up in a deprived area, I felt judged, not for who I was, but because of where I grew up. The Children's Literature Festivals Book Awards expose children to various types of books at differing stages, fitting with my messages of accelerating, developing, and sreading the love of reading in children of all abilities.'
Christina finished: 'Reading and knowledge are power, not just educationally but socially and emotionally, making Reading Solutions UK the perfect partner to instil confidence in our readers.'
'It was great to see so many schools and libraries encouraging their children to get involved nationally with the Book Awards and access high-quality children's books for free.' - Christina Gabbitas, Founder of Children's Literature Festivals Book Awards.
Ian Fitzpatrick, Managing Director at Reading Solutions UK, said: 'We are delighted to have sponsored the first Children's Literature Festivals Book Awards to introduce more children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to the joys of reading. We know the importance and impact of reading for pleasure and will always champion initiatives like this.'
Reading Solutions UK, who sponsored the awards, have a number of projects to help encourage children to read. Such as Reading Plus which is an evidence-based adaptive reading development programme designed to develop children's reading skills by increasing their vocabulary, comprehension, metacognition and silent reading fluency.
Their Reading Plus programme is aimed at pupils in Key-Stage 2 and above, Reading Plus has a readability range from Year 2 to beyond GCSE. It supports pupils in developing their skills to read competently and confidently which made them the ideal partner for the Book Awards.
Winners of the Book Aawards include: Michael Rosen & Polly Dunbar with Ready for Spaghetti, Loki by Louie Stowell, Jennifer Killick with Dreadwood, and Alfie’s First Fight by Oliver Sykes, amongst a few. All winners received a glass award in the shape of a book.
For more details about the book awards and the full list of winners, you can visit Children's Literature Festivals website.