Speak Out December 2015

2015 book of the year

Book of the Year - A resounding success

The Book of the Year Awards ceremony in 2015 was a resounding success. The ceremony was held in Brisbane, and was hosted and supported by the State Library of Queensland. The highlight of this year’s ceremony was the playing of the Didgeridoo by Gregg Dreise, the winner of the Indigenous Children category. An activity that the school children present from West End State School loved. Gregg opened the ceremony with an acknowledgement of country. Gregg is a teacher, author and illustrator and grew up in St George, South West Queensland. His mother is Lyla Knox, daughter of Ted Knox (Toomelah) and Lulu Simpson (Brewarina). The Knoxes are proud Kamilaroi Murris, and Gregg’s grandma’s family are Yuwaalaraay people. Other highlights were two impassioned speeches by Ross Duncan, Director Regional Access and Public Libraries at the State Library of Queensland; and Stephen Michael King, the winner of the Birth to 3 years category. Both talked about their experiences with speech as children and how influential speech pathologists were in their lives and how indebted they are to them. As announced in the October edition of Speak Out , five deserving books were awarded for their contribution to language and literacy development. Top: Speech Pathology Australia National President Gaenor Dixon, Kylie Webb speech pathologist,SLQ, authors Nicki Greenberg, Stephen Michael King, Lisa Shanahan, Gregg Dreise, (at back) Ross Duncan SLQ, Speech Pathology Australia CEO Gail Mulcair, and Dan Georgeson SLQ. Left: National President Gaenor Dixon with authors Stephen Michael King and Nicki Greenberg. Gregg Dreise entertained with traditional didgeridoo and Nicki Greenberg with West End Public School student Nicholas Tham.

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Speak Out December 2015

Speech Pathology Australia