Speak Out December 2017

BOOK OF THE YEAR

Speech Pathology Australia

The BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS ceremony in November was a resounding success. The ceremony was again held in Brisbane and hosted and supported by the State Library of Queensland. The event was professionally facilitated by Jo Hayes, radio journalist and newsreader from Brisbane Radio Station 4KQ. Ms Hayes is a former speech pathologist. The ceremony was opened by the Association’s National President Gaenor Dixon, who also presented the awards. 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 enjoyed immensely. Gregg also opened proceedings 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. There were a number of winners in 2017 who were returning after success in earlier years. Gregg Dreise is a previous winner of the Indigenous children category, while Gus Gordon was an earlier winner in the Five to 9 years children category as an illustrator! Similarly, illustrator Karen Blair is a previous winner of the Speech Pathology Book of the Year awards for her drawings. As announced in the October edition of Speak Out, five deserving books were awarded for their contribution to language and literacy development. Birth to 3 years – Noisy Nature , written by Mandy A Kuhne; Illustrated by Alex Kuhne Three to 5 years – Me and You , written by Deborah Kelly; Illustrated by Karen Blair Five to 8 years – Somewhere Else , written and illustrated by Gus Gordon Eight to 10 years – Artie and the Grime Wave , written and illustrated by Richard Roxburgh Indigenous children – Mad Magpie , written and illustrated by Gregg Dreise Thank you to everyone involved with the Book of the Year Awards in 2017. A special thanks to the staff at the State Library of Queensland for helping to make the event such as success. Speech Pathology Australia remains a proud supporter of the library’s First 5 Forever program to improve the outcomes for children aged 0-5 years by supporting confidence around communication and learning through simple, everyday experiences. First 5 Forever directly supports parents and primary caregivers as their child’s first and most important educator, and provides families with increased access to the resources they need through public libraries and online Michael Kerrisk Communications and Marketing Manager

FROM TOP: The winners of the SPA Book of the Year with National President Gaenor Dixon (pictured right). Authors Gus Gordon, Gregg Driese, Deborah Kelly and Mandy Kuhne. Allen and Unwin representative Margaret Lanvizer accepted the award for Richard Roxburgh.

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December 2017 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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