Edinburgh student, Jen Campbell, has won the 2009 Penguin Orange Readers’ Group Prize. With her entry, she proved to judges that by running two online book clubs and a 'book tree' with over 100 topics for discussion and over 5000 replies, her efforts to make reading social were worthy of the £1000 prize. She will also receive a pair of tickets to the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009 awards ceremony in London on 3rd June.
In response to winning the prize, Jen said: “I'm definitely going to use some of the prize money to run a competition where members can email about why they love reading to win book tokens. Thank you again, I'm over the moon.”
This year, individuals were asked to demonstrate how they had made reading social and the competition was hosted here on www.spinebreakers.co.uk. The shortlist was selected by the Orange Prize for Fiction Shadow Judging Panel made up of six of the Spinebreakers teen editors before handing over to author Kate Mosse who chose Jen Campbell as the overall winner.
Kate Mosse commented:
“Congratulations to Jen Campbell on winning the 2009 Penguin Orange Readers’ Group Prize. It's a great achievement to run such a well supported and vibrant online Book Club and succeed in attracting such a huge number of international book lovers. There's no doubting her commitment to making reading, often a private passion, as social and community-based as possible."
More about the winner:
Jen Campbell
Book Club and Book Tree, (Edinburgh)
Jen Campbell recently finished her English Literature degree at Edinburgh University, where she ran her online book forum with over 100 topics for discussion. This proved so popular that she launched the Book Club and Obsessive Book Club in August 2008 and there are now over 5,000 international members with a diverse age range from 13 – 50, hailing from Australia to Finland.
"The way I see it, books are to share. I love curling up in bed with a chocolate biscuit and a cup of tea and devouring a book. But reading, for me, seems to come in two parts; there's the hoarding your book and losing yourself in that fictional world, and then there's talking about it with other people - saying what you loved, what you hated, noting intertextuality and references. Pointing out a sentence and saying 'man, I wish I'd written that!' or alternatively seeing if anyone else wanted to throw it across the room because they didn't like it very much!"
Jen Campbell
The three shortlisted reading groups were:
Eliot Reading Group, (Liverpool)
Inspired by the Ruskin Reading Group (see below) Dr Celia Bell started this group for patients with severe mental health problems in November 2008 at Ashworth Hospital. The membership of the group is open and different patients and staff attend each week.
"I read books at the rate I eat chocolate - which is rapid! Reading has been a great experience to share. Without exception, all group members have commented on how relaxing it is to be 'read to ' and how listening to a story told by someone else conjuers up different images in your mind then if you read to yourself. The group has allowed staff and patients to share a normalising experience together."
North London Reading Group, (London)
Paul Drinkwater began the group and its website in 2007 with a simple web page asking if anybody wanted to join his reading group. Over 100 enquiries later, there is now a network of over 100 people across North London with four sister groups in addition to the original NLRG.
"Since becoming a'reading groupie' in Oxford in 2002, I have met my partner of 6 years in a reading group; seen people in my groups get together, marry and break up; been in a group with somebody who has had several top ten singles; met authors, received invitations to appear on Richard & Judy and Radio 4; been on weekend getaways; walked the entire length of the River Thames and have recently started the Ridgeway with fellow members."
Ruskin Reading Group, (Liverpool)
Dr David Fearnley formed this reading group in February 2008 within a high security psychiatric hospital with the help of the Get into Reading Project, associated with the University of Liverpool. Patients, staff, visitors and students all meet weekly on the ward. The project helps build patients confidence as well as being a therapeutic experience.
"I started a reading group in a high secure psychiatric hospital with the help of colleagues from the Get into Reading Project, associated with the University of Liverpool. It has taken reading into places that many would never have believed possible, and changed lives."
These three runners up will receive sets of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009 shortlisted books.
The Competition -
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED.
This competition was open to anyone who is aged 16 and over, it is now closed for entries but here are the details of the competition so that you can put the shortlisted winners above in context:
“You’ve got to read this....”
You can’t just leave it can you? You can’t put the book down and forget about it - finished - THE END. No, instead you’re debating and questioning and enthusing and chatting about it; online, offline, in groups, on Twitter, as fans, members, friends, followers, on walls, forums, groups, whiteboards, at clubs, shops, pubs, in libraries, colleges, teams, offices, campuses; it’s just books books books and chat chat chat with you.
Is it? Keep reading, it’s time you were rewarded for your passion.
To enter, tell us about your book chat.
We want to know a short history of everything; who you are, what you do, when you started, where you meet, how you stimulate discussion, how many people you are talking to and why you love to talk about books. You might have started a group on Facebook, run a book group in your college or maintain a bookish blog – whatever it is that you do to get people talking about reading, we want to know.
And the person who can convince the judges that they’ve done the most to make reading social wins a grand prize… £1000 plus two tickets to the Orange Prize for Fiction Awards Ceremony on 3rd June 2009 (including travel expenses).
Click here for more about the judges