Doncaster: Discover the Spirit

2011-2012 Book Award Timetable

• Monday 17th October 2011: Official Launch Event at the Civic Theatre, Doncaster, with author and illustrator Chris Mould.
  View Full Report and Photos
• Tuesday 3rd January 2012: Shortlist Announced
• Other Dates to be finalised

2011-2012 Events and Activities

Where dates are not given, they are still to be finalised.

• September 2011: Cathy Cassidy visited schools in Doncaster. View full report and photos
• Week Beginning 14th November 2011: Dave Cryer ran a week of half-day primary drama workshops.
• 15th November 2011: Joint Workshop with Dave Cryer, held at Don Valley Full Report and Photos
• Wednesday 25th January 2012, 1.00 - 2.30 pm, Armthorpe School: Author visit from Curtis Jobling, author of the Wereworld books. Schools wishing to attend should notify Lesley Hurworth.
• Monday 30th January 2012 onwards: Dave Cryer will be running 2-hour drama workshops exploring the short list. The DBA will be funding 10 free workshops. Priority will go to schools who have never had a free workshop before, the remainder then distributed among other interested schools. If you would like one of these, contact Dave directly on davecryer(аt)doncasterbookaward.net. The deadline for expressing an interest is Friday 27th January at noon. Dave will then contact the ten selected schools to arrange the workshop, which can be taken any time after Monday, January 30th. If you have a day/time preference please let Dave know in your initial email. For those schools who don’t get a free one, Dave will be offering a special DBA rate.
• Friday 17th February 2012: Cusworth Hall Workshop: A workshop will take place at Cusworth Hall on Friday 17th February (the Friday of half term week) from 10.30 a.m. until 12.30 p.m. We would like participating students to arrive between 10.15 and 10.30. The workshop will be based on The Poisoned House, one of the shortlisted titles, and we hope that such a setting will make for a fun and atmospheric event. The Museum will be closed to other visitors on the day. Parents will need to drop off and collect their children. We will provide a drink and biscuits. Any schools wishing to book places for their students should contact Lyn Hopson via the Contact page or on 01302 781528, ext. 511, as soon as possible, and no later than Monday 6th February.
• Saturday 25th February 2012: Trip to Seven Stories Museum in Newcastle. This trip is now fully booked. Staff from schools wishing to take part will need to accompany their students. There will be a maximum of 10 students per school, which would require two accompanying adults. Departure time and place for the coach will be at Ward Bros in Doncaster at 8.15am for an 8.30 start. Return will be at approximately 4.45 - 5.00pm, and parents can collect their child from Ward Bros. There will be no charge for the event.
• Monday 23rd April 2012, afternoon: Author visit from the fabulous Charlie Higson! This will take place at Doncaster Racecourse. Interested schools should contact Lyn Hopson as soon as possible.
• Friday 25th May 2012, 10.00 a.m. - 2.30 p.m.: Our Finale this year will be a real spectacular at Doncaster Athletic Stadium. As well as the author talk, we will be running an exciting "Lit's a Knockout'" competition, with lots of fun activites to include a Zombie Race and "Bunnies turn Badminton"! We will also be attempting to break the world record for the longest reading relay and will be inviting everyone present to join in by reading a line from last year's winning book, The Thornthwaite Inheritance. More details will follow, but we invite you to register your intention to participate and contact Lesley Hurworth at your earliest convenience.
• Tuesday 10th, Wednesday 11th, Thursday 12th July 2012: Lesley's "Murder in the Library" sessions will run on these dates (two half-day sessions on each). Please contact Lesley if you wish to book a place.
• and more...: Details of other events will be added here shortly, so please keep checking back!

2010-2011 Book Award Timetable

• Friday 8th October 2010: Official Launch Event at the Civic Theatre, Doncaster. Special guest of honour was author Ali Sparkes. View full report and photos
• Thursday 16th December 2010: Deadline for votes for the shortlist to go to Lesley Hurworth at Armthorpe. Vote count will take place on Friday 17th December.
• Tuesday 4th January 2011: Shortlist to be announced on website.
• Thursday 17th March 2011: Deadline for votes for the winning book. Vote count on 18th March.
• Friday 25th March 2011: Finale Event at Doncaster Racecourse. Full Report and Photos

2010-2011 Events and Activities

• Monday 8th - Friday 12th November 2010: Week of primary half-day workshops led by Dave Cryer. Report on workshops at Don Valley, and photos
• November 2010: Visit by Doctor Who author Daniel Blythe. Report and photos
• Saturday 11th December 2010: Trip to Seven Stories in Newcastle
• Monday 10th - Friday 14th January 2011: Week of shortlist workshops led by Dave Cryer.
• Monday 21st February 2011: Special Illustration workshop (morning) and Drama workshop (afternoon) at Central Junior Library, to launch a week of events in public libraries over half term. More details to follow.
• Saturday 5th March 2011: As part of World Book Night we are giving away 50 copies of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon (5th March) at the Doncaster branch of Waterstone's. Come along to the event and see "potty poet" Gez Walsh and our very own Lollipop Man, Phil Sheppard!
• Week beginning Monday 7th March 2011: A week of 'Murder in the Library' events organised by Lesley Hurworth. Interested schools are invited to contact Lesley for full details.

2009-2010 Book Award Timetable

• Tuesday 13th October 2009: Official Launch Event at the Civic Theatre, Doncaster · Report and Photos
• Thursday 7th January 2010: Deadline for votes for the shortlist. Vote count will take place on Friday 8th January.
• Thursday 14th January 2010: Deadline for votes for the shortlist. Vote count will take place on Friday 15th January. (Changed from 7th/8th Jan because of adverse weather conditions)
• Thursday 18th March 2010: Deadline for votes for the winning book. Vote count on 19th March.
• Friday 26th March 2010: Finale Event at Doncaster Racecourse. · Report and Photos

2009-2010 Events and Activities

• 23rd-24th November 2009: Primary drama days with Dave Cryer · Report and Photos
• Saturday 5th December 2009: Trip to Seven Stories Museum in Newcastle · Report and Photos
• Monday 21st December 2009: Christmas workshop at Cusworth Hall Museum · Report and Photos
• Monday 25th-Friday 29th January 2010: A week of half-day ‘Murder in the Library’ workshops · Report, Students' Work and Photos
• Wednesday 10th February 2010: Daniel Blythe, author of Doctor Who novel Autonomy · Report and Photos
• Friday 26th February 2010: Backing a Winner: Artwork launch at Doncaster Racecourse · Report and Photos
• Saturday 27th February and Saturday 13th March 2010: Creative Writing Workshops, led by Dave Cryer

2008-2009 Book Award Timetable

• Friday 10th October 2008: Launch event at the Civic Theatre with author Darren Shan · Report and Photos
• 11th December 2008: Shortlist votes to be with Lesley Hurworth at Armthorpe
• 12th December 2008: Vote count (results on website by 15th December)
• 5th February 2009: Votes for winner to be with Lesley Hurworth at Armthorpe
• 6th February 2009: Vote count for winner
• 13th February 2009: Final Event at Doncaster Civic Theatre · Report and Photos

2008-2009 Events and Activities

• 10th-14th November 2008: Week of half-day drama workshops in primary and secondary schools
• 21st November 2008, 1-2 pm: Visit to Civic Theatre by Derek Landy, winner of the 2007-08 award for Skulduggery Pleasant · Report and Photos
• 26th and 27th November 2008: Two joint primary/secondary workshops at Don Valley · Report and Photos
• 6th December 2008: Trip to Seven Stories in Newcastle. · Report and Photos
• 22nd December 2008: Drama workshop at Roald Dahl exhibition (see below and Report and Photos)
• 9th January 2009: Joint secondary workshop at Don Valley · Report and Photos
• 12th-16th January 2009: Week of half-day drama workshops in primary and secondary schools
• 19th January 2009, 10.30-11.30 am: Visit to Armthorpe School by Jonathan Stroud · Report and Photos
• 26th-30th January 2009: A whole week of Murder in the Library events! We have a full report and photos on the event at Danum.
• 2nd March 2009 WORLD BOOK DAY EVENT: Comic Art Masterclass with Kev F Sutherland · Report and Photos
• 3rd March 2009 WORLD BOOK DAY EVENT: Illustrator's Workshop with Liz Million · Report and Photos

Our Xmas event this year was really exciting. As part of the National Year of Reading, local museum Cusworth Hall invited the Doncaster Book Award to get involved in its big Roald Dahl exhibition "Frobscottle and Snozcumbers". The exhibition runs from November 2008 to March 2009, and features fabulous original illustrations from Quentin Blake, and lots of other exciting material. We held a drama workshop there on Monday, 22nd December, 10am - 2pm, mainly based on Dahl's stories, but there was also a Christmas activity, as the Hall was decorated for the season. · Full Report and Photos · Our competition to design a poster advertising the exhibition to be displayed in the Hall itself and in participating schools has been won by Liam from Hexthorpe Primary School - Read all about it!.

We also have two illustration-based events planned. The first will probably be in Doncaster North CLC and Balby Carr CLCs on 3rd March (tbc) with a follow-up event at Cusworth Hall.

2007-2008 Book Award Timetable

• Friday 5th October 2007: Launch event at the Civic Theatre with authors Celia Rees and Andrew Cope - Report and photos
• Friday, 11th January 2008: Shortlist vote count (all votes to be with school librarians/public libraries by 10th January)
• Monday, 14th January 2008: Shortlist announced on the website
• Friday, 7th March 2008: Vote count for winning book
• Friday 14th March 2008: Final event and winner announcement at the Civic Theatre - Report and Full Photo Gallery

2007-2008 Events and Activities

• Tuesday 16th October 2007: Gervase Phinn gave a hugely entertaining talk to pupils from Doncaster Schools. Report and photos
• Friday 9th November 2007: Alan Gibbons gave a funny and informative talk at Armthorpe School. Report and photos
• 27th and 28th November 2007: Students from Sunnyfields, Saltersgate, Bentley High Street, Toll Bar and Don Valley schools took part in two exciting days of drama activities based on some of the titles from the longlist. Report and photos
• Saturday 8th December 2007: Christmas Event! Private screening of the film The Golden Compass based on Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights, at the Odeon Cinema.
• 28th January - 6th February 2008: Eight days of exciting workshops took place in participating primary schools. Students had the opportunity to explore all the shortlist books through drama, and show off their acting skills!
• Thursday 7th February 2008, Armthorpe School: Secondary Drama Day
• Tuesday 19th February 2008, Don Valley School and Performing Arts College: Secondary Drama Day. Students from Don Valley and Ridgewood Schools came together for a day-long drama workshop based on the six short-listed titles. Report and photos
• Wednesday 27th February 2008, afternoon: Our famous Murder in the Library was held at Armthorpe School. Report and photos
• Friday 29th February 2008 (morning), North Doncaster Technology College: Author event with long-listed writer Kate le Vann. Report and photos
• Wednesday 5th March 2008: Poet Andrew Fusek Peters visited Hayfield School on the morning of 5th March. Report and photos
• Thursday 6th March 2008 (World Book Day): Popular author Helena Pielichaty visited Don Valley. Report and photos

In 2004, an event was held at Doncaster North City Learning Centre where pupil representatives from several schools got together to pool their ideas on what they wanted from a website. The culmination of their ideas and designs that they put together using Dreamweaver was the first version of this site, brought together by CLC staff on the pupils' behalf. The day was a great success and everyone had a really good time.

In 2005 a searchable reviews database was added and the site was given a makeover for the second year of the award. This work was carried out by Intexta Web Services, working closely with Lyn Hopson of Don Valley School & Performing Arts College. As far as possible the pupils' original ideas from the brainstorming session were retained.