CCBC - Canadian Childrens' Book Centre AWARDS 2011

I may only work afternoons at Chine Dr. P.S., but in my spare time, I volunteer many hours, this year, moving into the role of the Chair of the Forest of Reading, at the Ontario Library Association.
It is a tremendous honour, and I have to thank, literally, HUNDREDS of librarians and Teacher-Librarians across Ontario, for the countless hours they volunteer to make all the OLA Reading Programs such a success, selecting books and steering committees who run the programs.
FOREST OF READING, OLA site:
http://www.accessola.com/ola/bins/content_page.asp?cid=92

This past week, I was invited to attend the Canadian Childrens' Book Centre Awards at the very chic, Carlu Reception Hall, downtown Toronto. It was an amazing event, sponsored by the TD Bank.
The CCBC also organizes many fantastic reading programs and sponsors authors from across Canada to tour our country and bring their imaginative stories and illustrations to Canadian children.

CCBC : Canadian Childrens' Book Centre:
http://www.bookcentre.ca/
Several Awards were up for grabs, with hefty monetary prize attached to each:

* Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction $5,000
* John Spray Mystery Award $5,000
* Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction $10,000
* Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award $20,000
* TD Canadian Children's Literature Award  (English & French)  $25,000 each
and newly minted award which will be presented for the first time next year in 2012:
* Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction & Fantasy $5,000
I was honoured to meet and discuss the Childrens Books with authors, illustrators, librarians, publishers, book distributors and programming experts of the field. Check out my pictures and hopefully, you will get to read some of their wonderfully entertaining books.