Competition - Are we there yet?

 

Competition!

 

Alison Lester's award-winning book Are We There Yet? tells the story of her family's exciting journey around Australia in a camper van.

 

It's your turn to tell us about your home town or a special place you have visited in Australia.  If you're under 12, just send us a short story or a letter or a drawing of your favourite place and you could win a fabulous prize.

The age categories are:

• Pre-school (for under 5 year olds);
• Early primary school (5 to 8 yrs);
• Later primary school (8 to 12 yrs).

 

Entries for Western Australian residents:

• open on 28th September and
• close on 7th November.

 Prize announcement on 5th December.

 

More information about the competition here.

Read the competition entry rules here.

Submit your entry via the online entry form here.

"It's never too late ... to learn to read" writing competition

We have a fantastic opportunity for Australian writers - published, unpublished, student and mature age - to be part of an initiative that not only supports the National Year of Reading 2012, but also has the potential to improve the skills of the 46% of Australians who struggle with literacy.

"It's never too late ... to learn to read" writing competition!

"It's never too late... to learn to read" is a short story competition for unpublished, new, emerging and established Australian writers. For some, it will be the chance to tell their own stories; for others, it will be the opportunity to imagine the experiences of an adult learning to read. Our aim is for the creation of exciting, inspiring and challenging stories to support and encourage adult learning, and to highlight the fact that "It's never too late... to learn to read".

Published writers will have the opportunity to win a $3,000 cash prize for their work, and emerging / unpublished writers, $1,000. The judges will be looking for stories that excite, inspire and challenge audiences. Fourteen stories (8 from published authors, 6 from unpublished) will be chosen as winners, and these will be announced during The Reading Hour in Sydney 2012.

Entries close on 6 August 2012.

Competition rules, entry form and more information here.

To help spread the word about this competition, you can download the poster here.

This competition was also held in 2011.  You can read (and listen) to last year’s entries here.

Our Story - Australia's biggest book club

Between November 2011 and January 2012, more than 16,200 thousand Australians voted at their local libraries and on the ABC website for the book to represent their state or territory during the National Year of Reading 2012. 

Together these 8 books form the "Our Story" collection and paint a picture of the Australian people and the land we live in. The winning titles were announced at the official launch of the National Year of Reading 2012 in Canberra. 

They are:

Smoke and Mirrors, by Kel Robertson (ACT);

The Idea of Home, by John Hughes (NSW);

Listening to Country, by Ros Moriarty (NT);

The White Earth, by Andrew McGahan (QLD);

Time’s Long Ruin, by Stephen Orr (SA);

Wanting, by Richard Flanagan (TAS);

Well Done, Those Men, by Barry Heard (VIC) and

Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey (WA).

Now you can take part in Australia's biggest book group by reading the Our Story collection and contributing your reviews.

Head over to The National Year of Reading Book Club page at The Reading Room by clicking here.

Enter a brief review and enter the Our Story competition to win WIN a book pack of the 8 winning books and an e-Reader!

And if you are interested in reading the rest of the shortlist of Western Australian titles, here are the other titles people voted on:

My Place, by Sally Morgan;

Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance, by Howard Pederson & Banjo Woorunmurra;

True Country, by Kim Scott;

Cloudstreet, by Tim Winton;

The Newspaper of Claremont Street, by Elizabeth Jolley.

All the Western Australian titles are held by Mandurah Libraries and we'll be getting copies of all the Our Story titles soon.  (To check the library catalogue and reserve your copy, click here.)

Read This 2012 Creative Reading Prize

The Read This 2012 Creative Reading Prize is a competition for people aged 12-18.  It is open for entries now! (Entries close on 31st May.)

Got a favourite book? Think everyone should read it?

Here's your chance to convince them - and win!

You might not only have them reading it but you could also share in $40,000 worth of prizes.

Simply submit a creative idea in ANY FORMAT YOU CHOOSE, but here are some ideas to get you started:

*    illustrate your favourite scene/character
*    create an art piece

*    make a video trailer or a machinima trailer

*    write a poem or a song
*    sew a costume
*    make a model
*    print a T-shirt

*    write a short story using the characters/setting (feel free to add zombies)

Be as creative as possible  - whatever works for you!

Full details are on the Read This website .

If you live in Mandurah and enter this competition, then Mandurah Libraries would love to hear from you so we can create an exhibition and event around local entries.  Please contact the National Year of Reading Project Officer, Deidre Robb on 95503237 or deidre.robb@mandurah.wa.gov.au

Library Lovers Day promotion

February 14th is a special day for many people but did you know that it is also Library Lovers Day?

As part of Library Lovers Day 2012, the Mandurah Libraries are giving away a Kindle ebook reader!

Simply collect a promotional postcard (see picture above) from either Mandurah Library or Falcon eLibrary and Community Centre and tell us what you love about your libraries.

Then send the postcard via post to the City of Mandurah (reply post paid).

The promotion runs from 14th February to 13th March so get in quick!