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PRESS RELEASE

THE IBBY-ASAHI Reading Promotion Award, initiated by the International Board on Books for Young People and sponsored by the Japanese newspaper company the Asahi Shimbun, is presented to projects run by groups or institutions that are judged to be making a lasting contribution to reading promotion for children and young people.

Previously the Award was given annually, however, as of 2006 the Award will be presented every two years to two projects and presented to the winners at the biennial IBBY Congress. It was a difficult task for the current jury to choose two winners from the eleven nominees as all the projects were of great merit and complemented IBBY's Mission Statement. Each nominated project targeted children who live in disadvantageous circumstances with no or little access to books. They were really Reading Promotion Projects!

The projects nominated for the 2006 IBBY-Asahi Award were:

• Mala de leitura (Reading Suitcase), Amazon region, Brazil, proposed by IBBY Brazil
• PROBIGUA (Proyeto Bibliothecas), Guatemala, proposed by IBBY Canada
• Centro Chileno Nórdica de Literatura Infantil, Chile, proposed by IBBY Denmark
• Alif Laila Book Bus Society, Lahore, Pakistan, proposed by IBBY India and supported by USBBY
• Centre for the Cultural Development of Children (CCDC), Tehran, Iran, proposed by IBBY Iran
• Early Readers Book Project for Aceh, Indonesia, proposed by IBBY Japan
• Mongolian Children’s Mobile Library Project, Mongolia, proposed by IBBY Mongolia
• Bücherbus in Nicaragua, proposed by IBBY The Netherlands and supported by IBBY Germany and IBBY Switzerland
• Eastern and Central Reading Encouragement and Development Network (E.C.READ’N), Masterson, New Zealand, proposed by IBBY New Zealand
• Foundation ABCXXI-Emotional Health Program: All of Poland Reads to Kids, Poland, proposed by IBBY Poland
• International Centre of Children and Young People's Literature, Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez, Salamanca, Spain, proposed by IBBY Spain

After an intensive discussion the jury made its choice from these eleven projects and we are pleased to announce that the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award for 2006 goes to:

• The Mongolian Children's Mobile Library Project; and
• The Foundation ABCXXI-Emotional Health Program: All of Poland Reads to Kids.

The well-known Mongolian writer Jambyn Dashdondog established the Mongolian Children's Mobile Library Project in 2002 with the help of many volunteers including students, writers and artists, as well as his own family. The project focuses on the promotion of book reading among children in rural areas throughout Mongolia, and is specifically aimed at the young people of the nomadic groups of herders who live in the remote areas of Mongolia. The mobile libraries are transported not only by bus across the vast steppes, but also by camel! The first books used in the libraries were picture books, selected from the best children's stories by local and international authors. After this initial selection, a campaign in Japan collected 10,000 picture books donated by Japanese children. Mongolian students of Japanese translated the books and the translated texts were glued into the books over the Japanese text. The project is a new initiative for this huge country and is becoming well known throughout the country.

The Polish campaign All of Poland Reads to Kids began in 2001 and is now well known all over Poland. The project is run by the Foundation ABCXXI Emotional Health Program and has strong media participation. The campaign aims at revitalizing the custom of reading to children at home, in kindergartens and at school, thus encouraging the healthy emotional development of children. The direct target groups are parents, teachers, caregivers and other people working with children, as well as the media. Well-known Polish personalities participate in the campaign, inspiring adults to read to children. Although the project has its own staff members, many volunteers support them and the campaign is having beneficial results all over Poland.

IBBY congratulates these two winnings projects for their creative and effective approaches to helping children enter the world of books and reading.

The 2006 jury comprised Jant van der Weg (Netherlands), Jury President
Elda Nogueira (Brazil)
Mari José Olaziregi (Spain)
(Anne Pellowski (USA)
Vagn Plenge (Denmark)
Chieko Suemori (Japan).

The prize money of US$ 10,000 for each winning project will be presented at the 30th IBBY Congress in Beijing, China, at a special festive occasion on Friday, 22 September 2006.

27 March 2006 / Jant van der Weg

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