2013 Shortlist  2013 Awards Day

Sad news: Vale Graham Davey 

"Of all the awards, the ones that kids choose themselves always mean the most. But they are also a great way to show kids that what THEY love is important." Jackie French

We are planning a big KOALA year for 2013 and really hope you will be part of the fun. On this website you can find out how to join, get all the information and instructions you need, download forms, use links to author’s websites, peruse the gallery and order bookmarks, tattoos and library bags.  Please join us this year and send in lots of nominations and votes.  And of course we’d love you to come to our spectacular Awards Day where you and your students can meet your favourite authors. It’s such a great day and the children come away so enthused.

Many librarians use KOALA as an easy way to get kids involved in the library, it’s also a powerful way to get reluctant readers reading. You can just set it up, perhaps as a competition (step-by-step suggestions on how to do this are on the website) and off they go! Nominations are due at the end of term 1, voting ends at the end of term 2 and our exciting Awards Day is in term 4.

KOALA can easily be used to support the new English curriculum. A great way to encourage children to continue reading and discussing their favourite Australian books, KOALA can be tracked to the Literature strand where students learn to interpret, appreciate, evaluate and create literary texts such as narrative, poetry, prose, plays, film and multimodal texts, in spoken, print and digital/online contexts.

KOALA has an emphasis on using Australian literature and engaging students with reading experiences that encourage them to develop opinions about what they read. For example, by nominating a book for a KOALA Award, and telling someone why they believe their choice should win, students will be Responding to literature as they:

1. Draw connections between personal experiences and the worlds of texts, and share responses with others (ACELT1596) 

Please don’t forget that you can also use KOALA to support your participation in the Premier's Reading Challenge, as when we release our shortlist we will identify which titles appear on the PRC list too.

Please join KOALA this year and put some fun into reading in your library!

Kay Proos

President 2013