The
Booktrust Early Years Awards 2004 Winners Announced At an Awards
Ceremony at the Congress Centre on Wednesday 29 September
Booktrust were delighted to announce the winners of the 2004 Early
Years Awards.
Presented
by Bookstart consultant and Chair of Judges Wendy Cooling the
winners of the three categories received a cheque for £2000,
the winning publishers also receive an engraved Award. The Baby
Book Award was presented by Bookstart parent Sarah Brown who said
“What a hugely enjoyable task it
was to read so many new books for very young readers. It is encouraging
to see so many good entries and this year's shortlists were a
real treat”.
The
Best New Illustrator, Polly Horner also receives a specially
commissioned award commemorating Raynor Unwin, of the Unwin Charitable
Trust, supporters of the Booktrust Early Years Awards. Producer
of this Award, and judge Catherine Anholt said “Polly Horner
is a twinkling new star in the vast galaxy of children's illustration.
All the books on the
shortlist make you glad to be involved at such an exciting time
in children's publishing.”
The
Winners:
Baby
Book Award - I love you! by David Ellwand and Mike Jolley (Templar
Publishing)
Pre-School
Award - The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
(Macmillan Children’s Books)
Best
New Illustrator Award - Polly and the North Star by Polly Horner
(Orion Children’s Books)
The
judges were; Wendy Cooling, Children’s Book Consultant;
Sarah Brown, consultant at Brunswick Arts, and married to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer; Annette Faamausili, a Nursery Nurse;
Giles Harrison, a Children's Librarian; Catherine Anholt, who
has produced more than 90 bestsellingchildren's books; and Ken
Wilson-Max, creator of several award-winning picture books.
SHOCKING
STATISTICS REVEAL BRITISH PARENTS STILL UNAWARE OF INTERNET DANGERS
TO CHILDREN
59% of British parents do not agree with the statement, ‘The
Internet is dangerous for children’
64% of British parents admit that they allow their child to use
the internet at home always, often or sometimes unattended
56% of the parents surveyed felt it was ‘safe enough for
their child to use the internet at home unattended’
63% of British parents say they have not installed parental control
software on their home PCs
A
survey of over 1,200 British parents carried out for leading electrical
retailer, Comet and NCH, the children’s charity, has revealed
that there is still a huge mountain to climb when it comes to
educating British parents about the dangers of the internet. The
research coincides with the launch of a month of intensive internet
safety awareness activity by Comet including a nationwide programme
of free in-store seminars. Comet is the only retailer to pre-load
its IT Works computers with a 14 day fully functional trial subscription
to CyberPatrol, the market-leading parental control software.
Shocking
statistics
The
survey shows that a massive 59% of British parents do not agree
with the simple statement, ‘The Internet is dangerous for
children’. Only 31% of the sample agreed with the statement
and a further 9% strongly agreed.
It
was found, however, that parents with younger children were more
likely to agree than those with older children - 49% of respondents
with children aged four to six felt the internet was dangerous
for children compared to 39% of those with children aged 13 to
15.
Furthermore,
almost two thirds of the parents questioned (64%) admit that they
allow their child to use the internet at home always, often or
sometimes unattended. More than half (56%) of the parents surveyed
felt it was ‘safe enough for their child to use the internet
at home unattended.’ Three per cent of the parents questioned
went as far as to say they felt it was ‘entirely safe’
for their child to use the internet unattended at home.
Lack
of supervision
Only
17% of British parents questioned said that their child never
uses the internet at home unattended. The percentage of children
using the internet unattended increases with the child’s
age - around 17% of children aged nine or under always or often
use the internet unsupervised, compared to 35% of those aged 10
to 12 and nearly two thirds of children aged 13 to 15.
John
Carr, Internet Adviser for NCH, comments: “The results of
this survey show that we still have a long way to go to reach
parents and convince them of the dangers of the internet. On the
other hand, a very healthy 77% say they think that internet safety
software should be pre-installed on every new computer sold to
families so clearly, at another level, parents are looking for
solutions.”
Just
over one third of British parents (35%) said they have internet
safety software on their home PC but actual sales of safety products
suggest that parents may simply be confused about whether or not
such software is in fact on their children’s machines.
Of
the remaining two thirds (63%) who have not installed internet
safety software, the most common reason parents gave (38%) for
not having installed it was because their child ‘knows how
to be safe on the internet.’ Many other reasons were cited
for not installing the software including
‘it
doesn’t really work’ (8%), ‘I can’t afford
it’ (6%), ‘my child would be able to disable it’
(6%) and ‘I wasn’t aware it existed (6%). One quarter
(25%) of the parents surveyed said that they trusted their child
not to do anything dangerous on the internet.
These
statistics contrast sharply with the number of people who could
identify the greatest risks to children using the internet. Almost
all (94%) of the parents questioned said that they knew pedophiles
could have direct contact with children through chatrooms or other
online services. Nine out of 10 parents surveyed also said that
children could easily be exposed to pornography through websites
and email.
Comet’s
commitment to internet safety
Comet
is the only retailer to pre-load its computers with CyberPatrol,
the market-leading parental control software.
INTERACTIVE
DISPLAY BRINGS RUBBISH BACK TO LIFE
A
new interactive display aimed at educating children and their
parents on the benefits of reusing, reducing and recycling rubbish
was unveiled at Lambeth Country Show last month and is about to
embark on a roadshow around four London boroughs.
The
display, called Recycling Explained, was designed by the Science
Museum and commissioned by the Rethink Rubbish Western Riverside
campaign which operates in the four London boroughs of Hammersmith
& Fulham, Lambeth, Wandsworth, and the Royal Borough of Kensington
& Chelsea. The journey a piece of rubbish takes once it leaves
the home right through to it being reprocessed into new products
is described in a fun, informative and child-friendly way using
colourful, visual and tactile stimuli. The display also includes
a panel of 'touch and feel' products made from recycled materials.
Children
visiting last month's Show clearly enjoyed endlessly spinning
the brightly coloured plastic drums which explain the recycling
process for four materials - paper, plastic, glass and aluminium.
One young visitor said: "I can't believe that you can make
a fleece from plastic bottles - the fleece and glass tiles are
my favourites."
Annette
Mayne from the campaign says: "The display is a memorable
and entertaining way for people of all ages to learn about recycling.
Everyone who has seen the display clearly engages with it and
is surprised when they realise just how easy it is to recycle
and buy recycled products. It really helps to show how easy recycling
is once people get involved."
The
display will now be heading off on a roadshow to libraries and
other venues in the four Western Riverside boroughs.
Helping
parents to help their children: new resources about dementia
The
Alzheimer’s Society has produced a groundbreaking education
pack for parents, to help them talk to and inform children and
young people about dementia.
The
Society is also running a drawing competition to encourage children
and young people to think more about dementia and memory. The
first prize is a family holiday to Disneyland Resort Paris.
The
competition is featured on the leaflet ‘What is dementia?’,
which includes easy to understand information about dementia written
especially for children and young people.
The
Society’s education pack also includes an information sheet
on explaining dementia to children, ‘Understanding dementia’
a detailed factsheet for children and young people and a six-minute
film – entitled ‘About my grandfather…about
my grandmother’ – which features children of all ages
speaking about their experiences of having a grandparent with
dementia.
Neil
Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, says:
‘Alzheimer’s
disease and the other types of dementia are common, especially
in older people. There are 750,000 people in the UK who have dementia,
and millions of people care for a person with dementia.
‘When
someone in the family develops dementia everyone is affected.
Children and young people need support in understanding what is
happening to a relative who no longer remembers their name, or
who starts to act differently.
‘We
hope that these resources will help children and young people
understand more about Alzheimer’s disease and all other
forms of dementia. We want to help children and young people cope
when a relative has dementia – to explain, to support them
and to alleviate their fears.’
The
film will be launched to coincide with Alzheimer’s Awareness
Week® which will take place in England and Wales from 4 –
10 July.
‘The
key message of the week is that we all need to understand what
dementia is. Only then can we promote greater understanding and
help everyone, whatever their age, deal with the impact of dementia,’
says Neil Hunt.
Quotes
from the film ‘About my grandfather…about my grandmother’:
‘When my grandfather forgot my name I felt like he didn’t
actually love me anymore, which is why he was forgetting me. But
then I found out it was because of dementia.’
‘When
I heard granny had Alzheimer’s I didn’t really know
what it was and then my mum explained it to me, saying that it’s
like when part of your brain starts to malfunction and you start
to forget things.’
‘My
grandfather talks about things from the past, when he was a young
kid and the games he used to play, but if we ask him what happened
yesterday he will not remember.’
‘My
granny sometimes asked me when her sister was coming over to see
her, and she’d forgotten her sister had actually died. So
we had to explain it to her that she’d died and my granny
would get really upset and tell us that she didn’t know
and we hadn’t told her.’
Contact
your local branch of the Alzheimer's Society to find out how to
view the video or to find out more about Alzheimer's Awareness
Week. The information sheets and competition leaflet can also
be downloaded from www.alzheimers.org.uk or contact press@alzheimers.org.uk
or 020 7306 0807.
Children's
charity invited to attend The Virtual Global Task Force on Internet
abuse
Barnardo's,
the UK's leading children's charity has been invited to join representatives
from England, America, Australia and Canada at a summit aimed
at targeting those who search for images of child abuse on the
Internet.
The
International group of law enforcement agencies have met once
before in December with a view to collaboration on policing and
abuse via the internet. Barnardo's has been asked to contribute
to the discussions due the charity's work with children sexually
abused through the internet.
Tink
Palmer, Barnardo's Policy Officer said, The fact that Barnardo's
has been asked to contribute to the summit is very positive and
means that law enforcement agencies are considering the plight
of the child victims. However, it is clear much more needs to
be done to trace the children who are the subject of abusive images
on the internet and then offer them specialist therapeutic support.
The
only way in which this can be done is through a multi-agency approach
and a full review of the current policing practice and the establishment
of child protection as a police priority. The summit is a step
in the right direction.'
Barnardo's would like to see the creation of a UK-wide multidisciplinary
centre focusing on the needs of the children who have been abused
via the internet and new technologies. The centre would offer
a variety of services ranging from specialist therapeutic services
for the child victims, to giving advice to the public on using
the internet safely and advising the police and trained professionals
dealing with children abused in this way. Establishing a national
centre would help set child protection as a policing priority
across the UK as well as enabling international co-operation between
all those involved in child protection.
Voicing
their Opinions at Shout Out 4Children Week 28 June – 2 July
2004
4Children
is organizing Shout Out 4Children Week, during Sure Start Month,
and is placing children and young people centre stage. Thousands
of children’s projects will be celebrating the week by encouraging
children to communicate effectively and drive adults to better
understand children’s communication - allowing children's
voices to be heard and focusing on the key issues affecting all
children today. Shout Out 4Children Week takes place from 28 June
- 2 July.
Highlights
for the week include:
29th
June Stephen Byers MP to address a national seminar dedicated
to Children’s Centres – the Integrated Provision within
Communities seminar is an opportunity to explore the policy agenda
surrounding Children’s Centres examining children’s
needs, funding and examples of best practice.
29th
June 4Children will be launching the results of its Buzz Survey
- a major survey of 4 to 14 year olds to find out how children
communicate with each other and their families – is it by
mobile phone, email or just a chat at meal times?
30th
June An annual summer reception held at the Atrium in London.
Following
on from the launch of the radical manifesto for change –
Creating opportunities, Building Futures – the reception
will focus on the development of the strategy through Extended
Schools, reflecting on the major developments for children and
families over the last year and looking to the future as we approach
a general election.
1st
July The Childcare Stars 2004 – In its eighth year, the
Childcare Stars Awards are a star-studded gala dinner to reward
and recognise the fantastic people who look after children many
of whom work in difficult circumstances and yet bring inspiration
and friendship into children’s lives. Sponsored by Sure
Start.
Shout
Out 4Children Week is an important highlight in the childcare
calendar and is a special time for childcare schemes everywhere
– the spotlight is firmly on them. Regional activities will
run throughout the week in thousands of childcare schemes across
the country including sports schemes, music programmes, arts and
crafts and fundraising events.
The
week is hosted by 4Children, the national charity dedicated to
creating opportunities and building futures for all children,
and forms part of June’s National Sure Start Month - which
gives parents the opportunity to find out more about the early
education and childcare services available to them.
Anne
Longfield, Chief Executive of 4Children said: “Long gone
is the time when children were seen and not heard – today’s
society demands that we positively encourage children to voice
their opinions on all issues affecting them whether it be boredom,
bullying, school or somewhere to play. Adults must listen more
to their children and Shout Out 4Children Week is an opportunity
to highlight the need to further bring children into decision-making
processes. Children’s voices should be heard loud and clear
– consulting with children needs to be much more open, thought
through and sought after.”
