Children's Book Council of Australia
TypeNon-profit organization
IndustryChildren's literature
Founded1946
Websitecbca.org.au

The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is a not for profit organisation which aims to engage the community with literature for young Australians.[1] The CBCA presents the annual Children's Book of the Year Awards to books of literary merit, recognising their contribution to Australian children's literature.

History

Lena Ruppert and Mary Townes Nyland, stationed in Australia with the U.S. Information Library, encouraged local teachers, librarians, booksellers and publishers to create a Children's Book Week in Australia, modelled on the annual event celebrated in the United States of America. [2][3]

Children's Book Week

In 1945, Children's Book Week was held across Australia for the first time, with the theme of "United Through Books".[4][5]

Awards

The Children's Book Council of Australia was founded in 1945[6] and the first Australian Children's Book of the Year Award was presented in 1946.[1] At that time and until 1952, there was a single award category (now the CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers Award).

In 1952 a category for the Picture Books was created, a Younger Readers category in 1982, the Eve Pownall Award for Non-Fiction in 1993, and the Early Childhood Award category was created in 2001, bringing the total number of categories to five.[1][7] In 2019 the New Illustrator Award, formerly the Crichton Award for Children's Book Illustration, was added.

Funding

Initially the awards were funded through Government grants (1966–1988), and later by individual and corporation donations and sponsorships. A major five-year partnership with the Myer Group provided $50,000.00 per year. When this ceased the CBCA decided to establish the CBCA Awards Foundation. This was set up in 1996 and raised over one million dollars. Raylee Elliott Burns, National President and Chair of the 1996 AGM, said in her subsequent introduction to the Prospectus: "The advocacy role played by the Children's Book Council has helped to promote the literary experience for children and to assure the scope and vitality of writing and publishing for children in Australia… The Children's Book Council of Australia invites Australians everywhere to invest in the future of readers through the support of the CBCA Awards Foundation." Proceeds from investments now fund prizes for the awards in perpetuity. Benefactors (donations $20,000.00 and over) and Major Donors ($5000.00 and over) are permanently acknowledged on all printed and electronic matter emanating from the CBCA.

Organisational structure

The CBCA is a national organisation with branches in every state and territory of Australia. Some branches also have sub-branches. Branches are mostly autonomous, but generally adhere to guidelines set by the National Board. The National Board was established in 2012 and represents every branch of the CBCA. The Board is responsible for the annual Book of the Year Awards, plus the presentation of the prizes as well as Children's Book Week and the annual range of merchandise, as well as the online reviewing journal Reading Time and the biennial National Conferences.

Other CBCA Awards

The National Centre for Australian Children's Literature

The National Centre for Australian Children's Literature (previously known as the Lu Rees Archives) is a comprehensive collection of books and other resources about authors, illustrators, publishers and their creative works. The collection includes over 40,000 books, with some 4,000 of these in overseas translations in 58 languages, over 510 research files, and significant collections of authors', illustrators' and publishers' papers, manuscripts and artwork. The mission of the Centre is to enhance the appreciation of Australian children's literature by collecting, preserving and making available wide-ranging resources through programs, events and exhibitions. Lu Rees, the founding President of the ACT Branch of The Children's Book Council of Australia, proposed in 1974 that there should be a collection of research files about Australian children's authors and illustrators together with a collection of their books. In 1980 this collection was deposited at the University of Canberra Library so it could be publicly available. The Centre is an incorporated body in the ACT, with a Board which includes the Management Subcommittee and the Foundation Subcommittee.[13] The collection was largely developed with donations from CBCA members. In 1979, in response to the International Year of the Child, Lu Rees initiated a plan to collect overseas translated editions of Australian authors. "...one of the Librarians from the Canberra Public Library Service (CPLS) rang me and asked, 'What are you doing about the International Year of the Child?'... if I could throw in a personal idea, it would be to emphasise the ‘International’ and try to get foreign editions of our own authors' work in the children's field."[14]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Caple, Helen; Tian, Ping (15 October 2020). "In 20 years of award-winning picture books, non-white people made up just 12% of main characters". SBS News. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  2. ↑ "Book Week To Cater For Children". Weekly Times. No. 3982. Victoria, Australia. 10 October 1945. p. 22. Retrieved 8 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ Saxby, Maurice. "CBC Sixty Years on". Reading Time. 49 (4): 6–9.
  4. ↑ "Children and Books". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 33, 637. 13 October 1945. p. 2. Retrieved 8 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ Smith, June; Hamilton, Margaret, 1941-; Children's Book Council of Australia (1995), Celebrate with stories : the Children's Book Council of Australia 1945-1995, Margaret Hamilton Books, ISBN 978-0-947241-75-9{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ "Children's Book council of Australia Book of the Year Awards". Dymocks books & gifts. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  7. ↑ "CBC Books of the Year". www.latrobe.edu.au. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  8. ↑ "cbcaqld.org - Diese Website steht zum Verkauf! - Informationen zum Thema cbcaqld". www.cbcaqld.org. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  9. ↑ "Nan Chauncy Award". www.latrobe.edu.au. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  10. ↑ "Chrichton award". www.latrobe.edu.au. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  11. ↑ "Leila St John Award | the Children's Book Council of Australia (Vic) Inc". Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  12. ↑ "Awards · the Children's Book Council of Australia - NSW". Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  13. ↑ Rees, Lu (1981). "In the beginning (Reprinted from issue 1, 1981)." Notes, Books and Authors, 27th issue, 2005, page 3.
  14. ↑ Rees, Lu (1981). "In the beginning (Reprinted from issue 1, 1981)." Notes, Books and Authors, 27th issue, 2005, page 5.

Bibliography

  1. Alderman, B (2006). "The Children's Book Council of Australia Awards 1977–1992". Reading Time. 50 (3): 16–19.
  2. Buckley, Trish; Kirkland, Marj (September 2010). "The Children's Book Council of Australia". Access. ProQuest 751284821.
  3. Hamilton, Margaret (2005). "Thanks a Million!". Reading Time. 49 (4): 9.
  4. Hateley, Erica (2013). "Paranoid Prizing : Mapping Australia's Eve Pownall Award for Information Books, 2001–2010". Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature. 51 (1): 41–50. doi:10.1353/bkb.2013.0008. S2CID 143926047. Project MUSE 496257 ProQuest 1445353282.
  5. Macleod, Mark (21 April 2011). "The Children's Book Council of Australia and the Judging of Literary Excellence". New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship. 17 (1): 20–35. doi:10.1080/13614541.2011.562792. S2CID 143611192.
  6. MacLeod, Mark (March 2011). "The Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and the Image Problem". Access. ProQuest 861637419.
  7. Richards, Diana (October 2013). "Lu Rees archives: A world class treasury of Australian children's literature". Incite. 34 (10): 26–27.
  8. Saxby, HM (2006). "C B C A Awards 1961–1976". Reading Time. 50 (2): 6–9.
  9. Saxby, Maurice (2005). "CBC Sixty Years On". Reading Time. 49 (4): 6–9.
  10. Wells, J (2013). "CBCA and the new National Board". Reading Time. 57 (2): 2–5.
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