Centre for the Book's Lorato Trok was overjoyed to receive the IBBY Asahi Reading Promotion Award at the Italian Club in Rugby, Cape Town on Tuesday night (7 September 2004).

The award, which was presented to her for the First Words in Print project, is a coveted prize at every IBBY Congress and brings with it a generous cash donation of US$10 000 to further the project.

President of the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award Jury, Xosé Antonio Neira Cruz said in his commendation speech " First Words in Print has filled the South African houses with words and with books. With these gifts has come, as it often does, the hope of a better world for everybody. We must recognise the Centre for the Book in Cape Town for doing this work and then, together praise its efforts."

In accepting this prestigious award and the affirmation that it makes for the project, Lorato offered insight into her own experiences:

"There is a perception that African people have a culture of non-reading. I dispute that. I grew up in poverty and neither my mother nor my father were readers. What I know is I have always loved books and reading. I would pick up anything with words on it to read.

There weren't any books in my native Setswana language that I could read, except textbooks. The only thing that kept me from owning books was because my parents couldn't afford to buy us books, and there was no library in our area and in any of the schools that I attended. What we rather say is African people love books and reading just as much as anyone, but because the majority of them are poor, buying books is not a priority in terms of needs.

I have seen the faces of children in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and all the other areas the First Words in print books are distributed to, the glow on their faces when they learn that the books are for them to keep, the happiness in their parents and caregivers voices during monitoring when they tell of how much a difference the books have made to their children, even to them."

Supported by the Japanese newspaper company Asahi Shimbun, the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award is given annually to a group, or an institution, which by its outstanding activities is judged to be making a lasting contribution to reading promotion programmes for children and young people. The nominations are submitted by the National Sections of IBBY and may include projects from any part of the world.

First Words in Print is a pioneering project of the Centre for the Book that aims to enable more very young South African children to have access to the stimulation of picture books and story books in their own languages. In a country where an estimated three million adults are illiterate and another eight million are functionally illiterate, the importance of stimulating an interest in books at an early age cannot be overestimated.

Research has shown that children who have no access to books before they go to school are severely disadvantaged and have trouble catching up with other children. Research has also shown that access to reading material in one's home language is a major factor in the development of early literacy.

So far 4 books have been published and distributed to 22 500 children in 5 regions of the country. Another 5 books have been developed, as part of a competition run by SAPPI, and these will be integrated into the project as well.

The 29th International Board on Books for Young People Congress (IBBY) Congress taking place at the Baxter continues until Thursday. The delegates will visit schools and libraries tomorrow in an outreach programme before attending the closing ceremony at Somerset House in Somerset West.

For further information please contact: Lorato Trok or Nazli Johaardien at 021 423 2669 or Lorato.Trok@nlsa.ac.za / firstwords@nlsa.ac.za