June news
City council recognised for promoting literacy in Portsmouth
Portsmouth City Council and Hampshire County Council have been named as local authorities of the month for June for the National Year of Reading - a government backed initiative launched by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to promote and celebrate reading.
Their year long Spread the Word campaign in partnership with The News aims to make books an integral part of children's lives. Details of the campaign have been sent to libraries across the country as an excellent example of what can be done.
The campaign has been praised for promoting reading events, publishing the library joining form and printing stories about initiatives such as Portsmouth's Bookstart Bear launch and Hampshire's Get Caught Reading online photo gallery.
The News has also dedicated a page to the campaign every Monday, which includes a rolling story written by local school children, word puzzles and interviews with celebrities such as Pompey footballer Richard Hughes, champion swimmer Katy Sexton and pop duo Same Difference.
National Year of Reading local government manager Emily Thorne said: 'Not only does this raise the profile of the National Year of Reading events and reading services across these two authorities but the weekly spread will reach those people who most need to access local services to support their reading and the reading of their family members.
'Portsmouth and Hampshire have done this brilliantly, many congratulations.'
Joint Campaign co-ordinator Lindy Elliott from Portsmouth City Council added: "The support of The News has been such an important thing for us. It's increased awareness about literacy and opened up the debate about reading to a wider group beyond those who would define themselves as literary."
http://www.yearofreading.org.uk/