For World Book Day 2010, booksellers throughout Ireland in association with National Book Tokens are again donating more than 1 million special WBD tokens to pupils in primary schools all over the country. Over the past 13 years more than 15 million book tokens have been given to Irish children at a cost to Irish booksellers of an estimated €22 million. Each child can redeem their token against six specially produced World Book Day flip books, including the O’Brien’s Press title ‘An Buachaill Bó by Gillian Perdue/The Witch Apprentice by Marian Broderick,’ in bookstores nationwide until 28th March 2010. For the very first time, The National Council for the Blind (NCBI) will be producing a Braille edition of this World Book Day book for World Book Day. It will be available on loan from the library of the NCBI.
Fionnuala Murphy, Communications Officer at the NCBI commented, ‘NCBI (National Council for the Blind of Ireland) is delighted that O’Brien Press have made it possible to have the flipper book of The Witch Apprentice by Marian Broderick and An Buachaill Bo by Gillian Perdue available in Braille for children who are blind or vision impaired’.
She continued, ‘World Book Day is a celebration of books and reading, so it is great that children who are blind or vision impaired can read the same new book as their sighted friends. Unfortunately, only around five per cent of all books, magazines and newspapers ever become available in Braille, audio or large print and even then there can be a big delay between the publication of the print version and the availability of the accessible format. NCBI’s Library is the only producer of Irish interest materials in accessible formats like Braille and audio’.
Also, the winners of the 2010 World Book Day Short Story Competition have been announced.
Kate Craven, Craughwell National School, Co. Galway is the first Irish entrant to win the illustration prize in the three years that the competition has been running. Her drawing ‘Garbage Monster’ was the judges favourite and will be the cover illustration for the primary school anthology of stories to be published on 4th March next, World Book Day. The anthology will contain 16 stories written by primary school children in Ireland and the UK, including Eleanor Moloney’s short story, entitled ‘Vikings Come to Dublin’. Eleanor Moloney, Camaross National School, Co. Meath is the only winning Irish writer.
World Book Day, now in its 13th year, is Ireland’s largest celebration of books and reading. The Evans schools short story competition gives children a unique chance to experience being published authors and illustrators and provides another exciting and creative way for schools to engage with World Book Day.
Competition was very keen as more than 3,000 competition entries were received from over 2,000 schools in Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Given a first line from leading children’s authors including Andy McNab, Francesca Simon and Anthony Browne as well as poet Roger McGough, primary and secondary school children across Ireland and the United Kingdom were invited to write their own short story or poem to compete for entry in two anthologies of stories. There were no Irish winners in the secondary school category. Children were also encouraged to submit illustrations for inclusion in the anthologies and on the cover jackets.
John McNamee, World Book Day spokesperson commented, “The Evans Short Story Competition gives children a wonderful opportunity to experience being published authors and illustrators. Ireland has a strong and long history of creating talented artists and authors. This is a creative, motivating way for World Book Day to engage with children and for schools to develop and nurture their pupils’ huge latent artistic talents”
