The shortlisted authors are invited to Falkirk to lead workshop sessions in the secondary schools and to attend the Book Award ceremony in Falkirk Town Hall. A major highlight of the Book Award process is the award ceremony in May, where pupils from each of the secondary schools in Falkirk Council screen their creative digital interpretations of the shortlisted books, meet the authors and celebrate books and reading.
Unfortunately due to Covid 19 the book award ceremony has been cancelled for this year. It is so disappointing that this decision has had to be taken, feedback from previous participants tell us that the RED Book award is one of the highlights of the school year.
The RED Book Award is Falkirk Council’s Book Award in which each secondary school in the authority participate. RED stands for Read, Enjoy, Debate and is all about reading for enjoyment and stimulating lively debate about books. https://twitter.com/readenjoydebate?lang=en
RED Book Award students from Kenya Skype RED Book Award students from Grangemouth HS
At the time of writing this post, the award is now in its 12th year and the shortlist is:
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
Welcome to Nowhere by Elizabeth Laird
Boy X by Dan Smith
Hell and High Water by Tanya Landman
13 and 14-year-olds from English classes in Bo’ness Academy, Braes High, Denny High, Falkirk High, Graeme High, Grangemouth High, Larbert High and St. Mungo’s High as well as reading groups in Polmont Young Offenders Institute and from a variety of countries take part. This year schools in Kenya, South Africa and The Netherlands are participating.
The young people read the 4 shortlisted titles, vote for their favourite book and produce a creative interpretation of one of the books for the award ceremony. English teachers and school librarians work together to make sure each student gets the most out of being part of the RED Book award.
There is also an art competition, where young people in each school are invited to redesign the front covers of each of the shortlisted books . The schools bring 4 designs to the award ceremony and the authors choose the overall winners.
The Books
The shortlist of books is decided after lengthy debate by school and public librarians, young people feed in their opinions to the debate too. The criteria include books must be available in paperback, the author is available to attend the award ceremony and the books must have the wow factor.
The young people decide the winning book through a secret vote a few weeks before the award ceremony. The winner is revealed by opening the red envelope at the close of the big day!
Key Dates
April – August: A longlist of books is read from which the shortlist is agreed.
September – April: Young people read, enjoy and debate the books.
April: Pupils vote for their favourite book.
May: the 4 shortlisted authors visit the secondary schools and the RED Book Award ceremony is held at the Falkirk Town Hall FTH
The RED Book Award Ceremony
Around 250 young people and invited guests pack into the Falkirk Town Hall to participate in the RED Book Award ceremony. Participants are encouraged to wear a red accessory and there are prizes (sponsored by Bright Red Books, www.brightredpublishing.co.uk) throughout the event for winners of the book review competition (sponsored by Palimpsest, www.palimpsest-bp.co.uk), a book cover design competition and best red accessory. The day is full of energy and fun and packed with a host of activities – from book signings and chatting with the authors to creative interpretations of the books and live entertainment by the young people.
The ceremony culminates in the opening of the red envelope to reveal the winning book.
The RED Book Award is run by the Learning Resource Service promoting reading for enjoyment for S2 and S3 pupils in Falkirk Council.
The shortlist for this year’s RED Book Award was:
Beneath by Gill Arbuthnot
Salvage by Keren David
Mind Blind by Lari Don
Inflicted by Ria Frances
All great books which had that important wow factor.
The RED award ceremony took place on 29/1/17 at the Falkirk Town Hall. 250 young people attended from every secondary school in Falkirk Council. Each school provides a creative interpretation of one of the shortlisted books. The authors enjoy watching their readers deliver their opinion of the books through powerpoint and drama. There was an opportunity for the young people to meet and talk to the authors at the signing table and during the question & answer session. During the ceremony groups of pupils acted as journalists, photographers and a media group interviewed authors and participants for their school radio broadcast and filmed the event. Everyone is encouraged to wear a red accessory which contributes to the fun and energy of the day. It was a wonderful event – a celebration of books and reading culminating in the opening of the red envelope to reveal he winner of the RED Book Award. The winner was Mind Blind by Lari Don.
This year we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the RED Book Award and to acknowledge this milestone, 10 schools across the world were invited to participate in the Book Award. Copies of the shortlisted books were sent to them and some Falkirk Council pupils were able to skype the young people in other countries to discuss the books. The countries taking part were Australia, China (2 schools), Jamaica, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, South Africa, Switzerland and Turkey.
A quilt, featuring all previous RED winners and material from the countries who took part, was made by Anne Ngabia, school librarian at Grangemouth High School, and will act as a fabulous legacy for the RED Book Award.
The Learning Resource Service wishes you a Happy National Poetry Day! From nursery rhymes to epic poems, we have a broad range of poetry to support literacy in your school.
Scottish Book Trust run Book Week Scotland every year and Learning Resource Service wanted to be part of this. Many schools and public libraries take part in this every year but there was no overall plan for the Falkirk area. A team of representatives from secondary schools, public library, teachers and the community learning development team whose remit was to plan for an ‘innovative programme for Book Week Scotland’ and to have a more co-ordinated approach. Play the video to see some of activities that took part in Falkirk in November 2014. Looking forward to working in partnership again to organise more events in 2015!
Bothkennar Primary School called in the help of Learning Resource Service to re-organise their library! The children wrote in to tell us what they thought…..
The Learning Resource Service wishes you a Happy National Poetry Day! From nursery rhymes to epic poems, we have a broad range of poetry to support literacy in your school.
