The time for shadowing the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway 2009 awards draws near - the shortlist is announced on 24 April - will all our favourites be there?  If you are planning to shadow the award this year you can apply online for the free publicity packs - www.ckg.org.uk/pos - before 23 March 2009.

The shadowing website - available to all participating schools - has been re-vamped to look and feel more like a social networking site and will allow

• Uploading of video content and blogs
• Designing of individual questionnaires and polls for everyone to participate in
• Highlighting favourite authors or illustrators from the current shortlist
• Link to past winning books in the ‘Living Archive' via the ‘step back in time' function

Joy Court, Chair of the 2009 Judging panel, is excited about the changes, "The key advantage of the shadowing website is that this input from young people can be achieved in a safe environment with librarians and teachers, the group leaders, remaining responsible for the administration of each account."

"It provides an excellent resource for both children and their group leaders," says Joy, "It won't just be the young people learning about ICT as it's also a great opportunity for librarians and teachers to develop their online skills and to gain support and ideas from colleagues across the UK."

The new features have been made possible by the support of ALCS, the Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society, and provide an invaluable resource for both the shadowers themselves and group leaders, linking ICT and reader development.

Take a look at the CILIP demonstration group home page to see how reading groups' can develop their own homepage and identity.

I know the huge enjoyment and satisfaction involved in being a part of this process (I was Chair of Judges for the 2008 award) and found the process stimulating and challenging, being a part of such high quality and passionate discussion about children's and young people's literature. 

Tricia Adams