Winner of North East Book Award 2005

The winner of this year's North East Book Award was announced on Friday evening as Lucas, by Kevin Brooks, published by The Chicken House.

Brooks has always wanted to be a writer although he has had a variety of interesting jobs including refreshments vendor at London Zoo and crematorium assistant. He lives in Essex with his wife.

TeensReads, review website for teenage readers says:

Critics have compared his second novel, Lucas, to classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Ox-Bow Incident. Told through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Caitlin, Lucas captures the pain and grace of an adolescent girl faced with a moral dilemma – with only her heart to guide her. "An ambitious and intricately crafted tale of love and resurrection," says Publishers Weekly in a starred review. Lucas was long listed for the Guardian Fiction Prize, was a Book Sense 76 pick and was also chosen for Barnes & Noble Teen Discovery Program.

Shortlisted titles for the Award included:

Unique by Alison Allen-Gray
The Dark Beneath by Alan Gibbons
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
Fleshmarket by Nicola Morgan
Rani & Sukh by Bali Rai

Congratulations to Kevin, his publishers and all those students, librarians and teachers who have helped to make the NE Book Award such a success.

ICT literacy assessment in US schools

The International Herald Tribune on-line has published an article about US attempts to evaluate students' information literacy in relation to Internet searching.
See the full article at:
Literary tests for a digital world

Ottakar's Children's Book Prize

The first winner of this new book award has been announced as Stuart Hill, for his debut novel, The Cry of the Icemark, published by Barry Cunningham at the Chicken House. This is the first year that the prize has been awarded and it is only for those who have published three children's books or less. The shortlist contained a diverse range of titles from leading UK publishers of children's fiction.

Libraries Change Lives Award

Nominations are now invited for the 2005 CILIP / LIS Libraries Change Lives Awards. These offer an opportunity to share good practice, recognise the efforts of staff and partner organisations, and especially to bring projects and services to national attention. Entries are welcomed from any sector of the library and information world, and more details and an entry form can be found at www.cilip.org.uk/lcla Closing date for entries is 28th January.

Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Education and Skills, opens BETT

Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Education and Skills, this morning opened BETT 2005, arguably the world's largest technology show for education, at Olympia, London. As well as reflecting on what has already been achieved with ICT, and on its capacity to transform learning and teaching, she announced:

• a proposed new route map to be delivered by Becta to enable schools to identify where they are and what to do next in their use of ICT
• Embedding ICT @ Secondary - Subject Specific Packs aimed at enabling subject teachers
• Teachers TV, a free digital channel which will launch on 8th February with a supporting website and broadband facility

However the Minister declined to make any announcement on the extension of e-learning credits beyond 2005 / 06, promising that a decision will be made shortly.

For those planning to attend BETT, which is open until Saturday, you are invited to come and meet a variety of SLA members and staff at our stand, LR8 in the Gallery.

Bogus Tsunami appeals warning from Charity Commission

The Charity Commission is warning that misleading leaflets claiming to collect for the Tsunami earthquake victims are being distributed by clothing collectors asking for clothing and cash. Areas so far targeted include London, Lincolnshire, East Anglia, Leicestershire and Essex but previous similar scams show that other areas tend to follow.

The Commission is advising local people to be extremely cautious about donating to such misleading appeals. Many of these collections are not registered charities - although they often give fictitious or limited company numbers - and there is no guarantee at all that donations will reach victims of the earthquake.

The Charity Commission's Chief Executive, Andrew Hind said,
"It's incomprehensible that some people want to take from survivors of a disaster left with absolutely nothing. I'd urge the generous public to take their clothes to a genuine charity shop and to make their cash donations to an established appeal fund such as the Disasters Emergency Committee.
Help the victims - don't let bogus collectors help themselves"

The main appeal fund is being co-ordinated by the Disasters Emergency Committee (http://www.dec.org.uk/) and donations can be made via most high street banks and building societies as well as on-line.

Gift Aiding donations allows charities to claim back an additional 28% on most donations.