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Below are listed annual celebrations of literacy and reading, with details, where available, of approximate dates when they take place each year.
Mid-January
Campaign that runs alongside Adult Learners' Week, which takes
place in May, to encourage adults to sign up for education
courses in time to start this September. Promotional materials
are available for adult education providers to publicise the
event and their own activities.
Contact: NIACE, 21 de Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GE.
Tel: 0116 204 4200. Website: www.niace.org.uk
(formerly Whitbread)
For more information visit www.costabookawards.com or call 020 7802 0802.
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First full week in February
National Storytelling Week, coordinated by the Society for
Storytelling, takes place annually during the first week of
February.
For further information see www.sfs.org.uk or call 0118 93581.
This campaign was launched in February/March 2004 to encourage Londoners
to make space in their busy lives for books, celebrating London's
books and readers. To find out more contact Booktrust on 020
8516 2978 or see www.getlondonreading.co.uk
First Thursday of month
World Book Day traditionally took place on 23 April (Shakespeare's
birthday and St George's Day). From 2001 this was changed
to the first Thursday in March to avoid clashes with Easter
holidays and allow schools to take part.
Further details may be found at www.worldbookday.com or by calling the World Book Day
helpline on 01634 729810. Fax: 01634 290175. Email: wbd@education.co.uk
For further information see the NRC World Book Day summary page.
Spring equinox
Formerly known as International Storytelling Day, the celebration
aims to get people worldwide to tell and listen to stories,
in a wide variety of languages, and at as many places as possible,
during a single 24-hour period. It is hoped that by sharing
stories and inspiration, they will learn from each other and
create international contacts. Coordinated in the UK by The
Society for Storytelling. http://sfs.org.uk/news/world_storytelling_day/
or Visit the event website at http://www.freewebs.com/worldstorytellingday/index.htm
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2 April
Held every year to commemorate the birth of Hans Christian Anderson
in 1805, this day is coordinated by IBBY (International Board
on Books for Young People) as part of their regular schedule
of activities to promote children's reading and international
awareness and understanding of other cultures through children's
books. IBBY branches in a number of countries arrange
events to mark the day. Visit www.ibby.org.
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Organised by the Federation of Children's Book Groups. Look
out for details on their website at www.fcbg.org.uk or call Sue Penny on 01707 325173.
Third week of the month
Annual celebration of adult learning that includes the ALW
awards to recognise the good work of individuals and groups
involved in the provision of adult education. NIACE would
like to encourage individuals, groups of learners, and projects
that are innovative in attracting and educating its learners
to enter for the awards. If you would like to enter your organisation
or nominate someone for the awards please call the Campaigns
Team at NIACE for more information on 0116 2044 200 or email
alw@niace.org.uk. Contact: NIACE, 21
De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GE. Website: www.niace.org.uk
Thursday during Adult Learners' Week
Annual awareness campaign, coordinated by the Campaign for Learning, promoting and supporting workplace learning events across the country. Over 5,000 organisations take part each year, celebrating learning achievements and promoting further learning opportunities. Visit www.learningatworkday.com.
3rd Thursday in May
Has a different theme to National Bookstart Day (which falls in Scotland's October school holidays) although celebrates the same principles.
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Annual celebration of children's early years services. Website:
www.nationalsurestartmonth.com.
Beginning of June
Volunteers Week is a national celebration of volunteers and
volunteering that takes place at the beginning of June each
year, giving volunteer managers and organisations the chance
to say thank you to their volunteers. It is a UK-wide event,
coordinated by Volunteering England in association with Volunteer
Development Scotland, Northern Ireland Volunteer Development
Agency, Wales Council for Voluntary Action and the National
Association of Volunteer Bureaux. For further information
visit www.volunteersweek.org.uk or call 0847 305 6979.
30 June - 4 July
The SHINE festival is a week-long schools festival to celebrate the talent in everybody. The festival will run from 30 June to 4 July and the DCSF is inviting all schools to participate and highlight the talents of all children. Visit www.shineweek.co.uk
Administered by Academi, the annual Book of the Year Award
is made to a Welsh-language and an English-language work in
the fields of creative writing and literary criticism. Prizes
are awarded for the best book in the calendar year. To find
out more about the award contact 029 2047 2266 or visit www.academi.org
For more information visit www.orangeprize.co.uk.
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Throughout the school summer holidays
The National Summer Reading Challenge (launched in 1999) is
coordinated by The Reading Agency and supported by the Museums,
Libraries and Archives Council, Books for Students and leading
children's publishers. It is aimed at encouraging four to
12-year-olds into libraries to maintain their reading over
the school summer holidays. For more information and resources visit www.readingagency.org.uk
Shortlists for the two awards are announced in April and the
winners are announced in July. During this period, many children's
reading groups in schools and libraries take part in a 'shadowing'
scheme, reviewing the nominated books and talking about who
they think should win.
For more information visit www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk or email ckg@cilip.org.uk
Read an article about the shadowing scheme
from Literacy Today.
A vibrant and energetic competition for young people aged
between 12 and 18. Participants present their original poems
- individually or as groups - on the theme of respect. For
more information call 020 7420 9892 or visit www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/rise
8 September
Since 1967, International Literacy Day has been celebrated
around the world as the focus of learning festivals, to recognise
that the basic learning needs of all people of all ages should
be met in each and every country, both developing and developed.
In 2000, the event was expanded to become International Adult
Learners' Week in order to provide a link between individual
national adult learners' weeks, to promote the sharing of
and learning from the experiences of other countries, and
to amplify the co-operation between agencies that work to
promote adult learning at international level.
Adult learner's weeks have been held in countries as far
and wide as Australia, Bosnia, Botswana, Czech Republic, Egypt,
Estonia, Finland, Ghana, Hong Kong, Iran, Jamaica, Japan,
Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, Palestine, the Philippines,
Russia, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, Swaziland, Sweden,
Switzerland and Zambia. An international forum has been set
up (hosted by Adult Learning Australia) for national coordinators
and others to share their ideas and experiences and nurture
the development of the week as a truly international event.
Subscribers will receive all messages sent and, likewise,
any messages of their own will be forwarded to all other subscribers.
To join, send an email leaving the subject line blank and
with just the word subscribe in the message to alw-international-list-request@ala.asn.au
or see www.adultlearnersweek.org/about/international.html.
See also the UNESCO website at www.unesco.org
for current information on events and awards for successful
initiatives, and
Canada's National Adult Learning Database, for information on the history behind and events to mark International Literacy Day - www.nald.ca/info/events/annual/ild/ild.htm.
First full week of the month
NIACE, the national organisation for adult learning, coordinates
Sign Up Now week, a national campaign held twice a year (January
and September) to encourage adults to participate in learning.
For more information contact: NIACE, 21 de Montfort
Street, Leicester LE1 7GE. Tel: 0116 204 4200. Website: www.signupnow.org.uk.
13 September
Annual celebration of Roald Dahl's life and work, first held in 2006 to mark what would have been his 90th birthday. Roald Dahl Day includes special events,
activities and a Roald Dahl Day Challenge. Visit www.roalddahlday.info.
26 September
The European Day of Languages (EDL), a Council of Europe initiative, is held annually on 26 September to celebrate linguistic diversity, plurilingualism and lifelong language learning. The EDL was first celebrated in 2001, the European Year of Languages. Resources to help celebrate the day are available from Scottish CiLT (Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research).
29 September
This award, created by Booktrust, gives prizes for fresh methods
of communicating with pre-school children.The shortlist and
winners are chosen by a panel of six judges, including a children's
book consultant, a nursery nurse, and children's authors.
For more information visit www.booktrust.org.uk/prizes/eya/index.html
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First full week of the month: 6 - 12 October 2008
Annual celebration of children's book and reading. Since 2000,
National Children's Book Week has incorporated National Bookstart
Day, an annual celebration of the books for babies initiative,
on the Friday.
Contact Booktrust on 020 8516 2977 or visit http://www.booktrust.org.uk/
If you are looking for authors, illustrators or poets to visit schools or libraries, Booktrust have a great downlaodable resource at http://www.booktrust.org.uk/
Last Friday of Children's
Book Week: 10 October 2008
The theme for 2007 is 'Jungle Party'. Contact Bookstart on 020 8516 2995 or visit www.youbabybookmagic.org.uk.
More
information on Bookstart
First full week of the month
During this week, Film Education provides lots of advice and
support materials for schools to use in promoting the use
of film in an educational context. Website: www.filmeducation.org. or call 020 7851 9450.
Thursday of the first full week of
the month: 9 October 2008
Organised by the Poetry Society, National Poetry Day takes
place on the Thursday during National Children's Book Week
(see above). Tel: 020 7420 9892. Email: marketing@poetrysociety.org.uk.
Website: www.nationalpoetryday.org.uk
Beginning of month
Annual celebration of children's participation in the arts.
Visit www.artsandkids.org.uk/artsandkidsweek
Middle of the month
Run every year by the National Family and Parenting Institute,
to raise awareness of the concerns of parents and families
and the people who work with them. The theme for 2007 is
'Turning lives around: what works for vulnerable families'. For more information, visit www.familyandparenting.org/parentsweek
CSV Make a Difference Day is the biggest day of direct volunteering
and community action. If you have a new project or an existing
literacy project that needs a volunteer or PR boost visit
www.csv.org.uk/difference.
You can access activity ideas, register for free resources
and promote your activities and projects through your local
BBC radio station. The campaign also recruits reading mentors.
Annual celebration of family learning that has activities
taking place in diverse locations such as zoos, shopping centres,
libraries and community centres. From 2004, the event was
extended from a weekend to a full week. For more information
contact the Campaign for Learning on 020 7930 1111. Fax: 020
7930 1551. Website: www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk. In Scotland, Family
Learning Week is coordinated by the Scottish Adult Learning
Partnership: 0131
220 5567 or visit www.salp.org.uk.
Started by the International Association of School
Librarianship (IASL) in 1999. It also includes International
Children's Book Week which runs for the last week of the month
(different from the UK's National Children's Book Week at
the beginning of October). In 2007 IASL decided to celebrate it as a day in Britain on the first Monday of October each year. Schools around the world can register to take part in an activity which matches them to a similar school to exchange homemade bookmarks - contact Amanda Curtis, bookmark coordinator on tafflib@hotmail.com
For more information, visit www.iasl-online.org/events/islm
For information visit www.black-history-month.co.uk
For information visit www.themanbookerprize.com
National Tell-a-Story Day gives people of all ages the opportunity
to hear and tell stories by organising or taking part in local
events. Launched in 2001, the celebration takes place at the
end of October with stories told in all sorts of venues -
schools, libraries, hospitals, care centres, residential homes
for the elderly, visitor centres, prisons, hotels and restaurants,
castles, caves, forests, theatres, churches, and people's
own homes. For more information visit
http://www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk or call The Scottish Storytelling Centre on 0131 557 5724.
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For information visit books.guardian.co.uk/childrensfictionprize2004/ call 020
7239 9694 or email julia.eccleshare@blueyonder.co.uk
For information visit www.bbc.co.uk/bluepeter
First full week in the month: 3 - 9 November 2008
Dyslexia Awareness Week is run by the British Dyslexia
Association. Visit www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk for more information.
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An ongoing reading project, along the lines of a readathon,
run by Walsall Learning Support Services. Tel: 01902 368764.
The National Reading Campaign is coordinated by the National
Literacy Trust and funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. It is continuing the work of the first National Year
of Reading (September 1998 - August 1999) to maintain a high
profile for reading, for both purpose and pleasure, in all
sectors of the community. In order to support reading and
literacy practitioners and provide a focus for activities,
the Campaign is targeting promotion on specific audiences
with regular themes, including Reading Champions and Reading
Connects. For more information visit www.readon.org.uk.
Readathon is an ongoing initiative through which children
undertake to read books, or do other literacy-based activities,
in return for pledges of money from family and friends. All
money raised is split between The Roald Dahl Foundation and
Sargent Cancer Care for Children. Participating groups are
provided with sponsor forms, display materials and a teachers'
guide, containing instructions, ideas and suggested activities.
Contact: Readathon, The Parsonage, St Mary's, Chalford, Stroud
GL6 8QB. Tel: 0870 240 1124. Email: reading@readathon.org. Website:
www.readathon.org.
Spellathon is Mencap's national sponsored spelling challenge. It is open to children in mainstream and special schools, up to the age of 13 (key stage 3). Oxford University Press provides spelling lists linked to the National Curriculum and the Primary Framework for literacy. Funds raised will help the charity support people with a learning disability and the top fundraising school will receive a celebrity visit.
Contact Mencap on 0845 977 7779 or email events@mencap.org.uk. Schools in Northern Ireland can call 028 9069 1351. Website: www.mencap.org.uk/spellathon.
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