Gawad Kabataan Para sa Panitikan

Pinoy children will finally have their voices heard regarding the books they love to read. Read Or Die's Gawad Kabataan Para sa Panitikan website is up and running. The organizers are inviting schools, libraries, writers and publishers to join and support the initiative.

Below is a brief description of what it is all about. For more information, visit the website here.

About the Gawad Kabataan

The concept behind the awards is somewhat similar to the Red House Children's Book Awards. We will be networking with children's book groups all over the country, give them free or discounted copies of nominated books along with review sheets, and, based on reader response, come up with a list of favorite and recommended books, after which a final round of voting will determine overall winners. The readers themselves will therefore be choosing their writers and their books.

I'm really thrilled with this project and as KUTING president, I'm cooking up some strategies to have the organization involved in it. Though I can not help but think if school librarians would find this worth their time. I have emailed our English coordinator and I'm hoping it's one project where we can collaborate. Now this is petty, but take note that libraries are encouraged to get involved and not the librarians who run the programs and services for the libraries.