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Speak Out
December 2015
Speech Pathology Australia
The Book of the Year Awards
ceremony in 2015
was a resounding success. The ceremony was held in
Brisbane, and was hosted and supported by the State
Library of Queensland.
The highlight of this year’s ceremony was the playing of the
Didgeridoo by Gregg Dreise, the winner of the Indigenous
Children category. An activity that the school children
present from West End State School loved.
Gregg opened the ceremony with an acknowledgement of
country. Gregg is a teacher, author and illustrator and grew
up in St George, South West Queensland. His mother is Lyla
Knox, daughter of Ted Knox (Toomelah) and Lulu Simpson
(Brewarina). The Knoxes are proud Kamilaroi Murris, and
Gregg’s grandma’s family are Yuwaalaraay people.
Other highlights were two impassioned speeches by Ross
Duncan, Director Regional Access and Public Libraries at
the State Library of Queensland; and Stephen Michael King,
the winner of the Birth to 3 years category. Both talked about
their experiences with speech as children and how influential
speech pathologists were in their lives and how indebted
they are to them.
As announced in the October edition of
Speak Out
, five
deserving books were awarded for their contribution to
language and literacy development.
Book of the Year - A resounding success
2015 book of the year
Top:
Speech Pathology Australia National President Gaenor Dixon, Kylie
Webb speech pathologist,SLQ, authors Nicki Greenberg, Stephen Michael
King, Lisa Shanahan, Gregg Dreise, (at back) Ross Duncan SLQ, Speech
Pathology Australia CEO Gail Mulcair, and Dan Georgeson SLQ.
Left:
National President Gaenor Dixon with authors Stephen Michael King
and Nicki Greenberg. Gregg Dreise entertained with traditional didgeridoo and
Nicki Greenberg with West End Public School student Nicholas Tham.