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NEWS
Created: 22nd October, 2020

CLPE nominated for prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

We are thrilled to announce that CLPE has been nominated for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) for contributions to children’s literacy!

The ALMA is the world's largest award for children's and young adult literature. The award is given annually and is designed to promote interest in children's and young adult literature. An expert jury selects the winner from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations all over the world. 

CLPE's Chief Executive, Louise Johns-Shepherd said: 
"To be on this list alongside so many of the greats of children's literature whose work has taught us so much is such an honour. We are so pleased that the work we do to highlight the importance of quality children's literature has been recognised and beyond delighted that our charity is nominated for this prestigious award."

 

We have been working in the field of children’s literature for almost fifty years and our work benefits nearly 5 million children in schools across the country. 

In just the last three years our charity has:

  • Produced the first ever report into representation within children’s books: Reflecting Realities, funded by the Arts Council.
  • Won the Eleanor Farjeon Award for outstanding contributions to children’s books.
  • Championed the importance of poetry – running the only award solely for children’s poetry, the CLiPPA which involves children from all over the country and brings 1000 children to the National Theatre to celebrate poetry.
  • Launched our Power of Pictures research which shows the power of the picture book and the importance of drawing for developing literacy
  • Developed a two week, whole school recovery curriculum for schools returning after COVID closures. Based on Oliver Jeffers' What We'll Build: Notes for Living on Planet Earth,the unit was used by more than 13,000 teachers and resulted in schools, children, authors, poets and illustrators sharing their work and their #CLPEWordsForTheWorld. Some of this work is displayed on a 180ft hoarding at Kings Cross.
  • Announced a new online learning CPD programme including online Power of Reading training to provide extra support for primary schools
  • Launched a series of home learning resources for our Power of Reading Member schools, to meet schools' changing needs in these unprecedented times as pupils transitioned to home learning.
  • Received funding from the Richard Whittington Foundation to provide training for Early Years teachers in partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
  • Crowdfunded the creation of the Literacy Library’ at our London centre, building a new space for 23,000 children’s books for teachers, publishers, literacy organisations, authors and charities to use. We now share this space with two other literacy charities, the Driver’s Youth Trust and First Story.
  • Written a book for teachers, The Power of a Reading Rich Classroom, published by SAGE Publications on 29th February 2020
  • Worked collaboratively with publishers to produce events for more than 90 authors, illustrators and poets, including a new programme of events for 2020, Literacy Library Presents
  • Worked face to face with 3,000 teachers across the country each year and provided free online resources and support for thousands more.

We are so grateful for all the support we receive from teachers, schools, publishers, authors, illustrators and more, but we would like to say a big thank you to the Arts Council England, City Bridge Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Garfield-Weston Foundation for their invaluable support this year.

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world's largest award for children's and young adult literature. The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million, is given annually to a single laureate or to several. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading promoters are eligible. The award is designed to promote interest in children's and young adult literature. The UN convention of rights of the child is the foundation of the ALMA's work. An expert jury selects the laureate(s) from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations all over the world. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 and is administrated by the Swedish Arts Council