One of ACLA's key goals is the establishment of a Children’s Laureate for Australia, a national spokesperson to champion books and reading nationally.

The Children’s Laureate will be an Australian author or illustrator of children’s and/or youth literature, appointed on a biennial basis. The Children’s Laureate will encourage children to engage with reading and be part of an active literary culture for enjoyment, wellbeing and forming a pathway to success in life. ACLA is currently working on securing long-term partnerships to fund the Laureate project.

The Laureate will be selected by the ACLA Board according to pre-determined selection criteria. This selection will be preceded by a public nomination process.

Background: 

The Children's Laureateship has been awarded in the UK for over ten years and has proven instrumental in raising the public profile of reading. The Children’s Laureate programme is run by Booktrust, an independent charity funded by the Arts Council UK promoting books and reading. The current Children's Laureate is Anthony Browne.

Last year, the Library of Congress in the US announced the first US Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jon Scieszka. The current US Ambassador is Katherine Paterson. The Ambassador programme is jointly managed and supported by The Center for the Book at the Library of Congress and The Children's Book Council (CBC).

For more information about the Australian Children's Laureate project, please contact us