Doncaster: Discover the Spirit

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 and winner announcement

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.
• 26th and 27th November 2008: Two joint primary/secondary workshops at Don Valley
• 6th December 2008: Trip to Seven Stories in Newcastle. Interested parties should contact Lesley Hurworth.
• 22nd December 2008: Drama workshop at Roald Dahl exhibition (see below)
• 9th January 2009: Joint secondary workshop at Don Valley
• 12th-16th January 2009: Week of half-day drama workshops in primary and secondary schools
• 26th-30th January 2009: A whole week of Murder in the Library events! Contact Lesley Hurworth if you would like one in your school.

Our Xmas event this year is really exciting. As part of the National Year of Reading, local museum Cusworth Hall has invited the Doncaster Book Award to get involved in its big Roald Dahl exhibition "Frobscottle and Snozcumbers". The exhibition will run from November to March, and feature fabulous original illustrations from Quentin Blake, and lots of other exciting material. We have booked a drama workshop there on Monday, 22nd December, 10am - 2pm, with a free lunch for all participants. It will be mainly based on Dahl's stories, but we will have a Christmas activity too, as the Hall will be decorated for the season. Anyone wishing to attend needs to let Lesley know as soon as possible, as places are limited. Also, we have a competition to design a poster advertising the exhibition to be displayed in the Hall itself and in participating schools. Students can submit their designs to Lesley Hurworth or Lyn Hopson by 23rd October, and museum Curator Julie Harrup will choose the winning design.

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.