Celebrating Reading for Pleasure, by Dawn Finch

With the dust of World Book Day barely settled I’m hoping that everyone is entering the weekend mulling over the wonderful times they’ve had. Now, before anyone throws anything at me, I know that not every school visit is wonderful for authors, but I do believe that the overwhelming majority of school visits find you in welcoming spaces where reading for pleasure is not just a box ticked on WBD, but something that is celebrated all year round. We know the schools I’m talking about, the ones where the school buzzes with excitement about books and reading. The schools that make us feel like shouting about how wonderful they are.

This brings me to the CWIG Reading for Pleasure Award. Children’s writers and illustrators visit thousands of schools every year and see a wide range of approaches to teaching literacy and encouraging reading. We meet teachers and librarians who are doing exceptional work and the CWIG group at the Society of Authors thought it was about time we had a way of showing schools how much we appreciate their work towards a culture of reading for pleasure. To do this we came up with the Reading for Pleasure Award. This is the perfect time of year to ask you to start considering who you might put forward for one.

Brian Abram nominated Parklands Primary School (pic credit Chris Dyson)

If you visit lots of schools, you will know when you have come across a school doing that little bit more – maintaining the library at all costs, making strong links with the community library, encouraging peer-to-peer recommendations, working with reluctant readers, running book clubs or reading groups and putting on mini-festivals or literary and illustrative activities - all sorts of things that go beyond the remit of the curriculum. Schools celebrating reading for pleasure not because they have to, but because they want to.

Sita Brahmachari nominated Little Green School (pic credit Little Green School)

Join us in rewarding those schools that go the extra mile in encouraging children to read for pleasure.

Here are the FAQs for authors from the Society’s website.
How many awards can I give?
CWIG members can honour, via the SoA, schools with 3 awards from now until 13 August 2020 (although summer term visits can have an extension of four months). You must have visited the school over September 2019-July 2020. Schools can receive more than one award from different authors. Welsh schools will receive certificates in English and Welsh.

Who can nominate?
SoA members only.
Awards can be given to any nursery, primary, secondary or special schools throughout the world that an author has visited (either virtually or in person) during the 2019/20 school year.
Members can reward schools with an award in whatever combination they like e.g. one primary, two secondaries.

When do I submit details?
This scheme operates on a rolling basis, so members can reward schools in whatever order or timing that suits. You could spontaneously gift your award immediately after your visit when you feel really inspired; or leave your decision to the end of a term or the school year. We would prefer early nominations to sustain interest in the award throughout the year.
This year’s deadline is 13 August 2020.

How do I nominate?
You will need to send contact details to the Society of Authors along with a citation (no more than 150 words) detailing why you are presenting an award. An optional paragraph of why the school deserves the award and images would be appreciated for publicity purposes. Please complete the form on the Society of Author's CWIG website.

Let’s use this year to celebrate the good things, the happy things, the things that make us smile and make us feel like this is all worthwhile.

Dawn Finch is a children's author and librarian, and current chair of the Society of Authors' CWIG committee. 
@dawnafinch
www.dawnfinch.com

You can read more about the CWIG Reading for Pleasure Award on the website.
Link here https://www.societyofauthors.org/Groups/Childrens-Writers-and-Illustrators/Reading-for-Pleasure-Award

When tweeting about the award, please use #CWIGAward #readingforpleasure, tag @Soc_of_Authors and mention the school, librarian, staff or headteacher. If the award is given around an annual event or local festival you may like to mention that too, e.g. World Book Day, National Libraries Week etc. 

Sample tweets:

I’ve given @school @librarian/teacher a @Soc_of_Authors #CWIGAward for their work inspiring #readingforpleasure.

Congratulations to @secondaryschool @librarian/teacher for their @Soc_of_Authors #CWIGAward for their amazing promotion of #readingforpleasure

I awarded @secondaryschool @librarian/teacher a @Soc_of_Authors #CWIGAward for developing #R4P. Congratulations, you are an inspiration!