The Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards and Crichton Award for Emerging Illustrators 2010 Shortlist Announcement
30th March, 2010
Good morning, everyone.
In the spirit of national reconciliation, I acknowledge the indigenous peoples who first lived in this place we know as Brisbane, the Jagera and Turrbal peoples, their elders and descendants.
And I acknowledge also:
National President, Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA), Ms Marj Kirkland,
National Vice-Presidents, Mrs Megan Daley and Ms Kristen Lewis,
President, CBCA Queensland Branch, Ms Tina Cavanough,
Vice-President, Ms Marilyn Roberts,
Distinguished Judges, authors, would-be authors, illustrators, representatives of the publishing industry, teachers, teacher-librarians and everyone here today who cares about the promotion of literacy, of quality literature for children and young adults and the encouragement of our Australian writers, illustrators and publishers,
It is a pleasure once again to welcome the members and supporters of the Children's Book Council of Australia to Government House for this eagerly anticipated annual event to announce the shortlist for the 2010 Children's Book of the Year Awards and the Crichton Award for emerging illustrators.
It is an event I enjoyed greatly last year, meeting so many people with a shared passion for literature and, within that larger passion, a very specific dedication to literacy, to children's literature and their vigorous promotion throughout our country.
It is also an event - and a cause - which has grown considerably in scope and significance over the years.
From the first Children's Book of the Year Award in 1946, when there was only one award - won by Leslie Rees for "The Story of Karrawingi the Emu" - to the shortlist the CBCA is announcing today, with five categories and six titles short-listed within each, there has been a terrific blossoming in the quantity and quality of Australian publishing for children and young readers.
The intervening 64 years - (exactly my lifetime!) - have been a time of tremendous change in Australian publishing, demonstrated by the fact that very few of the publishers of award-winning books in the early years have survived with their original names; evidence of the intense competition and structural change demands placed on the industry over the past half century or so.
That dynamic of change in the publishing industry seems to me, at the policy level at least - and from a technological viewpoint also - to have accelerated in the past twelve months, with:
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the new inquiry recently announced into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians in Australian Schools (and Bravo, Madam President, for the Open Letter to the Federal Education Minister in today's Courier-Mail calling for a revolution in Australian school libraries);
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and of course, the potential disruptive impact of new technologies such as the Kindle and the iPad promising yet more change to reading patterns and the distribution model of the industry. Today's Courier-Mail also contained a tiny item buried in the inner pages, reporting that a certain well-known IT company's iPad tablet computer hit US shelves last Saturday and that "eager buyers" have been placing pre-orders since 12th March.
While I am certain that all of these issues are of great interest to many present today and we could spend much time discussing and reflecting on these changes before we move onto the fun and excitement of the announcements, I wanted to take the opportunity of this gathering to talk about another change that I have discerned as I move around the community, in my role as Governor, which, to my mind, has been insufficiently remarked upon as the industry focuses on these more dramatic changes, and that is the quiet solidification in the community of the need for and support for a greater emphasis in our education system on children's literacy, and also of the seriousness with which children's literature is considered, debated and evaluated in the broader community. Although not quite in the league of "The (wacky, exuberant) Cat in the Hat", wearing both my Governor's hat and as Patron of the CBCA Queensland Branch, I do find this immensely interesting, and frankly, if not reason for exuberance, then certainly very pleasing!
There has been, in the mainstream media and in the community, an almost unheralded yet very clear change from the seemingly incessant demands we saw nationally, in the early part of this decade - around 2001 - for additions to already crowded curricula, to an appreciation of the need for more time, and more focus, on the acquisition of literacy skills, not only in the formal educational sector, to which some of you, I know, belong, but in the home as well. (Think here, for example, of the Queensland Government's "Books for Bubs" project). Whilst the debate around the national curriculum continues to unfold - and I am well aware it is a debate with many facets -there appears to have been a definite, solid swing back to acceptance of a need for a simplified curriculum built around the acquisition of basic skills. Certainly, that is evident here in Queensland and finding expression in some interesting education policy initiatives, as well as some new and innovative partnerships, such as that formed earlier this year between the State Government, the Sunday Mail and Queensland bookstores to offer a 10% discount of all children's books Statewide throughout the month of March. Now I understand that these, to some, may be seen as small steps - and a simple, necessary response to the latest Australian Early Development Index survey on child preparedness for school that revealed that Queensland children at 61% are below - well below - the national average at 77%. But I believe there is more to this than a narrow, "quick-fix" political reaction to negative figures. I sense a much broader, mainstream shift, out there in the community, beyond the teachers, the educators and education experts - beyond even parents - which has been perceived and understood by our policy-makers and has led directly to the introduction of programs like the "Flying Start for Queensland Children" and the proposed welcome return of literature to our primary schools. This shift - and the responses we are seeing to it, including the assertion, the recognition that "Education is about a partnership between Government, teachers, parents and the community" is surely a cause for celebration among those of us who cherish the gift of literacy, who know the joy of reading and who want to see its pleasures and treasures unlocked for all members of the community. With literacy the key, this new - or perhaps more accurately, renewed - emphasis on its acquisition is to be welcomed as a necessary first step into turning all children not only into competent readers, but into passionate, committed and engaged readers, whether via descendents of Gutenberg's great invention or via e-book readers, the Internet, or other, yet-to-be- invented media.
American children's author and poet Jane Yolen once said "Children's books change lives. Stories pour into the hearts of children and help make them what they become." Although, as Governor, much of my work and focus is now at the grassroots, local level, my background and involvement with global and national issues always leads me to look at the ‘big picture' - and translating Yolen's thought, picturing it in national rather than personal terms, those ‘stories' also help to make these children, in our case, these Australian children, what we will become as a nation, through helping children to understand and make sense of the country in which they live. It is critical that our children and - in the case of our youngest children, their parents - have a wide variety of Australian voices to choose from when they are deciding who to invite into their reading and story times, and it is very helpful also, when confronted with those choices, to have a guide as to the quality of what is on offer.
That is where this shortlist is so valuable. There are so many people who use it - who trust it - to help guide their buying and borrowing decisions: their birthday and Christmas gift shopping, for their children, godchildren and grandchildren and for their schools and libraries. This reputation and trust in the CBCA, built up over many years, helps to explain the profile and competitiveness of these awards and also the high level of attention and care from the judges who labor so carefully over their selections and final judgments.
I know for each of them there is an element of pleasure in the task, but I am sure there is, as well, a keen sense of the responsibility involved, to the authors and illustrators, to the industry and to the community, and I thank those who are able to here today for the shortlist announcement for their great commitment to the cause!
To each of the authors whose work has been submitted or nominated for the 2010 awards, whether successful in making the shortlist or not, I also express my thanks, for choosing to channel their creative efforts into children's books. The idea that writing for children and the younger members of our community is somehow easier or less challenging than writing for adults has - blessedly - receded in the broader community, aided, by public statements by people like Mem Fox, who once memorably remarked that "Writing a picture book is like writing 'War and Peace' in haiku", and by the steadily growing profile that children's literature, as a distinct genre, has gained in Australia and internationally, developed through the constant, devoted yet highly professional effort of organisations like the CBCA and its overseas counterparts.
And on that note of appreciation and recognition of the wonderful work of the Council, it is now my pleasure - with a tip of (my Gubernatorial) hat, to say "that is that" - and invite CBCA National President, Marj Kirkland, to the lectern to speak to us, then introduce the Judges to announce the Book of the Year Awards Shortlist for 2010 and the Shortlist for this year's Crichton Award.