Speak Out
December 2014
13
2014 book of the year
The Book of the Year Awards
ceremony was an
outstanding success. The awards were again supported,
as in previous years, by the Children’s Institute at The Royal
Children’s Hospital Melbourne.
The highlight of this year’s ceremony was the reading of a
letter by the Chief Executive Officer of the Children’s Institute,
Glenda Strong, which she received as a young girl in grade
two at primary school. The letter was written by Bob Graham,
the winning author of this year’s Five to 8 years book category.
Bob had formerly corresponded with Glenda Strong’s grade
two class thanking them for a letter they had written to him
about one of his recent books.
It was therefore fitting that Bob Graham was on-hand to
personally receive the award for his book,
Silver Buttons
;
and then to follow this with a personal reading of his winning
book. A reading that was enthusiastically received by over
95 children from North Melbourne Primary School, who
were in the audience.
As announced in the October edition of
Speak Out
, five
deserving books were awarded for their contribution to
language and literacy development. It was pleasing that all the
authors and illustrators were there in person to receive their
awards.
Birth to 3 Years:
I’m a Dirty Dinosaur
by Janeen Brian
and Ann James
Three to 5 Years:
A Swim in the Sea
by Sue Whiting and
Meredith Thomas
Five to 8 Years:
Silver Buttons
by Bob Graham
Eight to 10 Years:
The Adventures of Sir Roderick the
Not-Very Brave
by James O’Loghlin
Indigenous Children:
Deadly D & Justice Jones – Making the
Team
by Scott Prince and Dave Hartley
Thank you to everyone involved with the Book of the Year
Awards in 2014. A special thank you to all our judges who
gave their time to complete the important task of judging the
books. Without their efforts, there would be no awards.
Michael Kerrisk
Communications and Marketing Manager
2014 Book of the Year Awards ceremony
Above: The winning authors/illustrators (from left): James O'Loghlin, Scott Prince, Dave Hartley,
Ann James, Meredith Thomas, Janeen Brian, Bob Graham and Sue Whiting.
Above: Ann James and Meredith Thomas accept
their award in the Birth to 3 Years category for
I'm a
Dirty Dinosaur
from Let's Read Senior Project Officer
Elise Willersdorf (centre).
Left: Speech
Pathology
Australia
Director
Tennille Burns
once again
hosted the
Book of the
Year ceremony.
Above: Many of the ceremony guests were children from
North Melbourne Primary School.
Above, from left: Author Bob Graham with the letter he wrote to Children's Institute CEO Glenda Strong
many years ago; and a page from
Silver Buttons
which Bob Graham read aloud to the ceremony attendees.
