Not Long Now! 2015 Kids' Lit Quiz Australia

With the UK, US and Canadian competitions already decided and South Africa's about to begin, the 2015 Australian Kids' Lit Quiz is less than a month away!

The Australian team at the 2014 Kids' Lit Quiz world final in Falmouth, Cornwall in July

Australia

Schools in and around Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Ipswich and Orange should contact Nicole Deans (at kidslitquizaustralia@gmail.com) to register their best readers for the upcoming "sport of reading" tournament. It's a great way to promote literacy in school communities and to celebrate and reward good readers.

The team (of 4 readers aged between 10 and 13 years) which wins the Australian final (to be held at Monkey Baa's fabulous Lend Lease Darling Quarter Theatre in Darling Harbour, Sydney on Saturday, 14 March) is invited to the 2015 World Final, to be held in beautiful Connecticut, USA in July.

Click on the links to find out more about:

the 2015 Australian competition,
how the Kids' Lit Quiz promotes literacy in schools,
what previous participants and educators say about their Kids' Lit Quiz experiences,
Stripes and Stars: 2014 Queensland heat
Kings and Queens, Insects and Mice: 2014 NSW regional heat (Orange)
Cannibalism and other stories: 2014 ACT heat
The day the Kids' Lit Quiz came to south-west Sydney: 2014 Sydney heat
2014 Australian Final 

After the jump there's more information about what's been happening around the world in the 2015 Kids' Lit Quiz - great books are being read everywhere!

United Kingdom

Each year, the Kids' Lit Quiz calendar kicks off in the United Kingdom in November. With 18 regional heats (and growing!) the UK competition is the largest domestic competition in the Kids' Lit Quiz family. Heats are held in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with over 400 schools competing throughout the UK.

You can read more about all the 2015 UK competition heats here.  I've copied Quiz Master Wayne Mills' report on the 2015 UK national final below. Congratulations to Litcham School, the 2015 UK national team.

The 2015 UK national team with author Anthony Horowitz and quizmaster Wayne Mills.
Photo credit: KT Bruce Photography.

After a see-saw tussle between several teams, Litcham School won this year's UK National Final.

Unfortunately Ermysted Grammar School arrived late and may have challenged for the lead if their train had not been delayed; as it was, they came second.  Three schools tied for third place, but in a "sudden death" play-off, this position was won by Comberton Village School. 

Today's winning team (Amelia, Sam, Eleanor and Madeleine) and their coach Cathy Berry went away with travel bags from Serco, a cheque from MLS towards their international travel, books & tee-shirts from Walker Books, teddy bears and a trophy from Softlink, goodie bags from Scholastic and MacMillan, a subscription to Discovery World by Bayard Press, opportunities to attend a SLA Training Day, the UK KLQ National Cup and an invitation to attend the KLQ World Final in Connecticut in 2015.

Our guest speaker, Anthony Horowitz, wished all the teams well and the day's proceedings were masterly conducted by Alec Williams.  

Our authors, Lindsey Barraclough, Margaret Bateson-Hill, Jo Franklin, Alan Gibbons, Frances Hardinge, Marie-Louise Jensen, Sally Nicholls, Samira Osman, Mark Robson and Teri Terry lead the teams in to the hall to their respective places. 

The venue was the magnificent Great Hall at King's College Wimbledon where we were made extremely welcome and treated to a wonderful celebration tea, which included an enormous KLQ cake.  

Many thanks to Anne Beddoe and Helen Pugh who were the local organisers, and to Jacky Atkinson, Gaynor Cooper, Barbara Hickford, and the rest of the National committee. Looking forward to meeting you all again next year.

Happy reading,
Wayne.

USA

Next on the Kids' Lit Quiz calendar is the US competition, held at the end of January. The 2015 US national team comes from Sedgwick Middle School, Connecticut. The team won't have far to travel to the World Final which will be staged in Hartford, Connecticut in July this year!

The Kids' Lit Quiz is relatively new to the US, starting there in 2011 (it was introduced to Australia in 2012) and Sedgwick Middle School also produced the 2014 team which competed at the world final in Falmouth Cornwall last year. Here's a report from the Middletown Press on the 2015 US competition, another report on this year's competition and a link to the Kids' Lit Quiz US site.

Canada

The 2015 Canadian national team. Photo credit: Nick Greenizan. PeaceArch News, 6 February 2015

Decided only days ago, at the national final on Monday, the 2015 Canadian national team comes from Southridge School in British Columbia. This is a huge achievement as this is the first year that the competition has been run in British Columbia, having started in Toronto in 2011.

You can read more about the Canadian competition here, in (National Coordinator) Nancy Davidson's review of the 2014 competition and about the 2015 national team in an article from the PeaceArch News, (written before they won the national title.) Congratulations to all!

South Africa

Next up, South Africa! The heats start this Friday (the 13th!) in Cape Town and conclude with the national final in Johannesburg on 21 February. Good luck everyone!

You can read more about the South Africa and the Kids' Lit Quiz in these posts:

Team South Africa 2014 (including a review of the 2014 Phendulani Quiz)
South Africa 2013 by Marj Brown
Africa!
There and Back Again
The Big Five
Prisoner 44664: master of his fate, captain of his soul

Finally!

Here's a report from The Economist on the 2014 world final in Cornwall, England, giving a good insight into the role the Kids' Lit Quiz plays in promoting reading and advancing literacy around the world in a unique, entertaining way.

It's easy for Australian schools to join the international Kids' Lit Quiz family. Simply email Nicole Deans to register for Kids' Lit Quiz Australia's 2015 competition and give your students an opportunity to discover and extend their love of reading with like-minded communities of readers throughout the world.