Saturday 27 April 2013

Zena Sutherland Awards in Chicago

I have just been on an amazing trip to Chicago to attend the 2013 Zena Sutherland AwardsA Place to Call Home won two prizes last year, Best Overall Book and Best Text.  This year the University of Chicago invited me over to present the awards and to collect my prize from last year... This awesome poster:



I was very impressed with how thorough the whole process was and how engaged the children were with it.  No joke, I think it compares very well to some of the best prizes judged by adults - and I'm not just saying that because I won!  These are super bright kids and the depth they go into when assessing the various titles is amazing.  From beginning to end it takes almost six months to select a winner in each of three categories, Best Text, Best Illustration and Best Overall.  The children even design their own detailed assessment criteria.

If you want an idea of how much this award means to them, listen to the reaction to the announcement from last year!






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