Best Reader Awards

This idea was born out of our managing director and his son's participation in the after-school reading club of a local school in Peterborough. The school has some 1,500 pupils, but only three or four pupils and a couple of parents attended each of the three club sessions!

This is, of course, hardly surprising because we hear so often these days that children won't read due to increasing numbers of modern distractions. BBC's Child of Our Time reports that children spend more time watching TV and playing computer games than they do at school. At a school playground, our managing director recently heard a parent saying: "My children are so addicted to playing games over the internet that when they do, I just wish there is a power cut!"

When a new Harry Porter book was released, we did hear news that "truck loads of copies" had to be delivered to supermarket stores. Yet, most copies have been left on bookshelves at homes and never opened (not to mention being read). And this is exactly what happened to the Harry Porter series our managing director had bought for his two sons.

The benefits of reading are, of course, many. It develops our mind by enhancing our thinking pattern and understanding level. It strengthens our knowledge base, and expands our intellectual horizon - it is a gateway to a wonderful world of imagination and inspiration. What's more, the process of book reading gives relaxation and peace to the brain - a half-a-hour read can calm children's nerves often exhausted by fast-paced computer games and therefore contribute to the healthy development of their mental being, if done on a regular basis. In short, book reading is an essential skill for life.

To counter the negative impact of the ever powerful distractions from TV, play station, computer, internet, mobile phones and other digital gadgets, we are developing nationwide initiatives in partnership with top authors, schools, libraries and the media to promote the habit of book reading among children and young people at primary and secondary schools.

Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2

During Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, children are only beginning to learn literacy and to learn to read books. Yet the stark fact is this: if we parents don't read books together with our children, our children won't read. In addition, children should not just read books in their heads; reading aloud with confidence, understanding and expressions is very important. From the collective nominations of children and teachers, we seek to organise schools and judges to find the best parent readers and the best child narrators in the country.

Best Narration:  This award will help heighten children's awareness in reading aloud at a young age and encourage them to practise it.

Key Stage 3 and Above

From Key Stage 3, children and young people can read independently. And one effective way of ensuring that reading is fruitful is to write, in their own words, about what they have read. Each year, we select one book and encourage every pupil to read it and then write, in their own words, a two-page book summary or character description. These short written works will be screened and judged at class, school, regional and country levels with an age factor applied to the individual score to account for the age differences, so as to find the most compelling and enjoyable ones.

Best Summary: This award will encourage young readers to develop their ability to synthesize complex situations and to master the whole.