Canberra, 24 November 2021: We are delighted to share that ALIA’s 2021 National Simultaneous Storytime campaign Story Time from Space has been shortlisted for the Association Forum’s External Campaign of the Year Award.
These annual awards recognise excellence and accomplishment by associations and outstanding individuals. The External Campaign of the Year is presented to a campaign that has resulted in significant improvement for the association’s mission, sector or members.
Our National Simultaneous Storytime campaign is one of our most dynamic and wide-reaching initiatives. Each year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country.
Our 2021 National Simultaneous Storytime was our most ambitious and most successful to date. The selected book Give me some Space! by acclaimed author and illustrator Philip Bunting follows Una, a young girl, as she expresses her lifelong love for all things astronomical.
With the help of Scholastic Australia, the Australian Space Agency, and the Office of the Chief Scientist we undertook the additional challenge of sending a specially constructed version of the book to the International Space Station to be read by astronaut Dr Shannon Walker.
On 11:00am on 19 May 2021, children, caregivers, teachers, library workers and lovers of reading simultaneously read Give me some Space! and tuned in to the live stream of Dr Walker of reading the book.
The event attracted over 1.98 million registered participants from more than 33,400 locations, with readers from Australia, Afghanistan, Canada, Cook Islands, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niue, Pakistan, Peru, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Vanuatu and Vietnam.
We are delighted that this campaign has been shortlisted by the Association Forum. National Simultaneous Storytime is an essential part of our commitment to celebrating reading and literacy and promoting the work of Australian writers, illustrators and publishers.
The Association Forum’s Award Ceremony will be held on 2 December. Registration is free.