Book Dash has been nominated for the prestigious 2024 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award alongside four other locals; the award highlights people and causes working to improve reading for children.
South Africa (30 October 2023) – Book Dash has been nominated for a prestigious literary award and we could not be prouder. The cornerstone of Book Dash’s work is being highlighted and honoured in the best way. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award honours people and organisations working to give children access to books, promote reading and boost literacy.
To create a nation of lifelong readers and support literacy among youth, research shows that every child should own and have access to storybooks. Yet, books are expensive, often seen as a luxury, and owning just one storybook is out of the reach of millions of South African children.
Enter Book Dash, a literacy awareness organisation that creates and distributes storybooks to children in need. They have spent the last several years boosting literacy for children through unique and relatable books.
Book Dash believes that every child should own 100 books by the age of 5 so to make that happen, they hand out free books to children, many in the very languages the children speak at home.
The incredible organisation was recently nominated for the 2024 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was created in 2002 by the Swedish government to promote every child’s right to great stories.
This award is given annually to a person or organisation for their outstanding contribution to children’s and young adult literature and it can go to anyone in the world. The prize is five million Swedish kronor, the largest of its kind for an award of this nature. A judging panel of twelve people will decide who gets the honour of the 2024 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
PRAESA, the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa, won the award in 2015, becoming the first and only African organisation to do so. There are a total of four South African organisations and people nominated this year including Book Dash; also included are fellow organisation Biblionef, author and illustrator Niki Daly, and storyteller and reader Gcina Mhlophe. Canadian-based South African author Kagiso Lesego Molope is also nominated, this being her third time honoured with a nomination.
“A total of 245 candidates from 68 countries have been nominated for the 2024 award, including 66 candidates new from previous years. The list of nominees is one of the most complete rosters of the leading children’s book creators and reading promoters from around the world. The laureate will be announced on 9 April 2024. The nominations have been submitted by organisations from all over the world. The list of candidates is now public at alma.se/en.
We are elated to be nominated for such a prestigious award alongside so many esteemed candidates.” – Book Dash
Book Dash is a registered non-profit organisation and has an innovative model to create and share new, quality South African children’s books that are highly affordable. Over the past few years, more than 128 original storybooks, across eleven indigenous languages, have been created by volunteer creative teams at 12-hour events called Book Dashes.
They are all so deserving of this prestigious award! We are crossing our fingers and toes for a South African win next year. Stay tuned.
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