• Complete set of the 2011 nominees - Michelle McGovarin and Aimee Whitbread, Cut Knife High School.
• Boxes of miscellanous books - Christine Heggestad, Frontier School; Nicole Rowlinson, Lindale School; Tara McKinnon, Alameda School.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who partiicipated. Check out the "Student Projects" page to see their entries.

1. A. Duplantie, Loon Lake School.
2. Donna Lee Austring, Central School.
3. Angela Nordstrum, Red Wing School.
4. Laurel Kental, Churchbridge Public School.
5. Charlene Stouse, McClurg School.
6. Adele Green, Outlook Elementary School.
7. Carol Edquist, Valley View/Beauval Public School.
8. Lorie Holden, Pleasantdale School.
9. Melody McPherson, Pilot Butte School.
10. Diane Barsi, Holliston School.

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest and continue to bring the Willow Awards to life.

Willow Awards President Ruth Garnett (left) and Carol Thiessen, who had the original vision for the Willow Awards, unveil the new Willows Awards/Gainer poster.

The United Nations' (UN) International Literacy Day annually falls on September 8 to raise people's awareness of and concern for literacy issues in the world.

In countries all over the world, the day raises people's awareness and concern for literacy problems within their own communities. Activities include literacy day projects, particularly with regard to technology and literature, which are promoted by various organizations such as libraries and school libraries as well as reading associations. SYRCA - Willow Awards Inc.promotes literacy for the children in the province of Saskatchewan. SYRCA - Willow awards Inc. is a young readers' choice award to encourage children to read books written by Canadian and Saskatchewan authors.Check out some of the activities associated with each book.

Naomi Kral

Wilfred was presented with a paperweight made by Saskatchewan artist, Jacqueline Berting, and a gift certificate.

On May 20th, Art travelled to Dinsmore to present to the grade 4 – 8 students.  This is what Jeff and the students from Dinsmore had to say about Art’s visit:

Dinsmore Composite School was pleased to host author Arthur Slade for Grades 4 to 8 on May 20.  His visit was won by the Grade 4 class with their participation in the Diamond Willow Book Awards voting.  Following are some of the comments by the Grade 4 students about Art’s presentation.

He was humorous! 
He gave his life story. 
He has a good imagination. 
He was specific in describing his books. 
He enjoys writing.  He made up some stories that sounded “almost” true!  He had some funny ideas. 
He can talk really fast, like an auctioneer! 
He likes to joke around.  I liked it when he spoke with a British accent.  There’s lots of adventure in his books. 
I liked the “sound trailer” about his books

The grade 4, 5 and 6 students gathered for a visit from Arthur Slade, author of the Diamond Willow nominated book Jolted and the Snow Willow nominated book The Hunchback Assignments. Art delighted the students with his humorous presentation. He talked about becoming a writer and about writing Jolted. When his presentation was over, he visited with students and signed autographs for them.

The middle years students were not to be left out. Susin Nielsen, author of Snow Willow nominated Word Nerd, was also at John Diefenbaker School. Because space was at a premium in preparation for the gala celebration, Susin presented to two different groups of grade 6, 7, and 8 students. Check out the comments under Word Nerd on the Willow Award website and you will see that Susin’s presentation about writing for television and writing novels for young adults was greeted very enthusiastically.

The program began with dignitaries and special guests being piped in, up a red carpet past students and parents, to their seats. Included in the group were The Honourable Dr. Gordon L. Barnhart, Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan and his Aide-de-Camp, Jim Scarrow, Mayor of Prince Albert, Dr. Bill Cooke, Director of Saskatchewan Rivers School Division, Leslie Gosselin from SaskEnergy, school board trustees and Willow Board members.

Following the Vice Regal Salute and O Canada, the principal, Mr. Kelley and the Parent Council Chair, Mrs. Olthuis, welcomed us. Dr. Barnhart inspired everyone with his short message about the importance of reading and his childhood memories of becoming a reader. Dr. Cooke brought greetings on behalf of the School Division. Florence Barton spoke on behalf of SYRCA and presented John Diefenbaker School with a plaque to commemorate the 2011 SaskEnergy Gala and a set of 2011 Willow nominated books. Leslie Gosselin represented SaskEnergy. She presented a Willow tree to the school as a remembrance of their contribution to the Willow Awards.

The speeches were over and it was time for the real celebration to begin. The nominated books were paraded down the red carpet with much fanfare followed by a very special performance of a song written by music teacher Mrs. Clarke and performed by the grade five students. The primary students used technology to showcase the 2010 Shining Willow nominees. A Photostory presentation highlighted the books and the envelope was presented. The excitement was evident as the winner, Scaredy Squirrel at Night, was announced. Author Melanie Watt was unable to attend the gala but prepared a video to thank the students and tell them a bit about where she gets her ideas for the Scaredy Squirrel stories.

The 2010 Diamond nominees were presented in a skit that students prepared. Following the skit, the envelope with the winner was presented and, just like at the Oscars, a hush fell over the room. There was much clapping and cheering when Jolted by Arthur Slade was announced as the winner. Art was at the gala and accepted his award, thanking the students for giving this special honour to a book that he wrote.

A video presentation prepared by the middle years students showcased the 2010 Snow Willow nominees. Again, when the envelope was presented, a hush fell over the room. The winner was announced accompanied by clapping and cheering – Word Nerd by Susin Nielsen. Susin was also at the gala to accept her award and thank the students.

Following the program, students celebrated with treats in their classroom while guests returned to the library for tea and treats, including a specially decorated “Willow Award” cake.

Special thanks go to gala organizers Tammy McHenry-Vick, teacher librarian, Linda Calder-Aydt, library technician and the administration, staff, students and parents of John Diefenbaker School. The student learning, the program, the lunch and the attention to every little detail made this a very special and memorable celebration of the 2010 Willow Award nominees and winners. Thanks also to SaskEnergy for their continued commitment to The Willow Awards.

The complete gala program can be viewed on the John Diefenbaker School website by locating their school on the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division website.

The Board would like to thank the many businesses and individuals who graciously donated items for the Auction. Once the Auction of 41 items was officially opened- the bidding began in earnest. Many people scouted their bid on a regular basis, while some conscientious bidders sent other people to sign for their intentions.

For amusement and interest sake, in the afternoon of the event the committee always tries to guess which auction items will sell for the highest price.

A #34 green and white jersey autographed by George Reed was popular and won by Shelley Hoffman. The Kobo Wi-Fi  E-Reader kept people’s attention and the final bid was made by Stephanie Evan.

Maybe since Regina was hosting the Ford Men’s World Curling Championship, a print entitled “Draw Weight” encouraged some competitive bidding throughout the evening. Mary Campbell was the successful bidder.

Always popular items at the auction are the gift certificates from the restaurant “Willow on Wascana,” “Beer Brothers” and Alfredo’s.

The raffle table had 17 items for people to try their luck. As well, people commented how they liked the ticket arcade for the items. In addition to the auction item and raffle items, a number of door prizes were drawn throughout the evening

Two ladies, Marlene Tymiak and Marianne Aamodt, drove in for dinner from Kelliher. Regardless of the weather, these ladies have never missed a dinner in nine years!

Special thanks are extended to the following people who helped organize the event: Margaret Steger, Margaret and John Lipp, Marion Perry, Eleanor Matz, Michelle Howland, Val Gerrard and Gail Goodman.

Another well-earned, thank-you must be given to the staff, Tracy, and Reeza at Alfredo’s, for their service and the delicious meal.

It is hard to believe that next year we will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Willow-nominated books. Watch the website for details, and we’ll see you next year for the big celebration!

Naomi Kral

I broke from tradition this year and began with a Shining Willow book, entitled Willow’s Whispers. Having a soft voice myself, I can identify with Willow in the book, as I am sure many fellow readers will understand the comparison. Visit the Willow Awards nominated books on the website to see the comments already posted about Willow’s Whispers. The commenting feature is new this year, and it seems that readers of all ages are beginning to post comments.

As usual, we have a group of ten very interesting books that vary quite widely in reading level and topics. Our committee never picks books based on theme; instead we try to pick books that will appeal to a variety of readers to promote an interest in reading.

I think our ten authors have written about topics that will appeal to children. These authors should catch the readers’ interest and, in some cases, the children might even identify with some of the characters in the books.

War and all things related to human struggle was a common theme this year. In many cases, the characters were involved in a war or in a personal battle to survive in society. The authors have tackled the institutionalization of people with Down’s syndrome, the war in Afghanistan and the Sudan, Anti-Semitism, divorce and the break down of the family unit, bullying, death of a sibling, and surviving in the woods in a fantasy.

The 2011 Snow Willow nominees will not disappoint, and they will challenge readers to think for themselves. I hope the students will post comments on the books after they have read them. Young readers, we want to hear from you!

For more information, contact us at willowawards@willowawards.ca, and we can arrange for a Board member to do a presentation or a booktalk in your area.

Naomi Kral
Board member

The SYRCA Willow Awards Board is pleased to announce that over fifty school libraries or classrooms were each awarded one set of books, in one of the 2011 Snow, Diamond or Shining Willow categories. Recipients were chosen from the many, many classes or libraries participating in the 2010 voting process.Books set included presentation bookplates. Thanks must be extended to Book and Brier Patch [wholesale] for their support and assistance in this project. Comments received from recipients indicate that Willow nominees are a very popular and welcome addition to libraries and classrooms. SYRCA looks forward to another year of great reading and high voter participation!

Some stats from the 2010 votes
Number of votes – 12,358
Number of voting communities – 173
Number of teacher vote entries – 382 (some with well over 100 votes)

Winners of the Draws for Classroom Library Boxes
Shining – Colleen Mitchell at Sacred Heart School, Moose Jaw
Diamond – Leanne Drullette, Success School
Snow – Debbie Jestin, Davidson School

Names were drawn for book prizes from all the students who voted.  We sent books to 35 Shining Willow readers, 25 Diamond Willow readers and 15 Snow Willow readers from all over the province.  Enjoy!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2010 Willow Awards.

The students were especially impressed with the actual Willow award that one of the winning authors will receive on April 12, 2011 that Val was able to take with her. The visit ended with a big surprise, as the students enthusiastically listened as Val read Giraffe and Bird, a 2011 Shining nominee, which they swore to keep top secret until the 2011 nominees were released on March 1st!

A board meeting followed the AGM. Some of the topics were:

• Reviewed and assigned the tasks and responsibilites of the board members
• Reviewed the yearly timeline
• Created a committee responsible for the fall Launch
• "Friends of the Willow Awards" Facebook page
• June newsletter
• Poster and bookmark distribution
• Media releases

Claire has served on the SYRCA Board since its inception in 2001. She was the very first Vice-President and served in that capacity for four years. In 2005 Claire was elected President and she served as President from 2005 to 2007. She has served as our Past President for the past two years.

In addition to her Executive responsibilities Claire has also served on a wide variety of committees that have furthered the work of The Willow Awards. She has chaired both the Shining and Diamond Willow selection committees, co-chaired Books at the Bistro, counted votes, looked after the sending out the stickers, and has written grant applications. She has also represented SYRCA at various conferences and has done booktalks at the Reading Council Conference and the SLA Conference. There are probably lots of other things as well!!

Behind the scenes Claire has provided assistance to the selection committees by providing them with a list of newly published material. It certainly saves the Selection Committee chair hours of work. She has also always been willing to make books available to the various selection committees through her work at the Regina Public Library.

Thank you so much Claire for all your hard work over the past 9 years. You and Margaret are the last of the original Board members. With your resignations from the Board we lose a bit of our corporate “memory”. We hope that you will continue to be involved, as your time allows, with SYRCA activities. We know that you will always be a staunch supporter of the Willow Awards. We wish you all the very best in the future. You will be missed!!

On behalf of all the young readers at Caroline Robins Community School I would like to thank you for the generous gift of the Shining Willow Books for the upcoming year. Our students were very proud to have won this gift of reading for their school and are equally excited to get the opportunity to read, enjoy and share the books. We are very “lucky” to have the opportunity to participate in the Willow Awards and look forward to the winner being announced. Thank you again.

Sincerely,
Laurie Hnatiuk

Please download the membership form and send it by May 31, 2010. Good luck to everyone who enters! Your continued support is gratefully appreciated.

Chris, from Victoria, British Columbia, is the winner of the 2009 Shining Willow Award for his book Mechanimals! In a short span of four days, Chris made eleven school visits in the Regina area before the Gala was held in Saltcoats on April 30. After the Gala, he would do another three presentations before flying home!

In his career, Chris, a talented young man, has done acting, writing and illustrating. Chris worked on several projects with Disney, including "Winnie the Pooh" and "The Lion King".

To open his presentation, Chris drew a picture of Winnie the Pooh. From that moment on, the students followed every stroke of his marker! Chris' presentation was both active and engaging. Chris included as many children as possible to act out how emotions can change the expression of a character.

Using a stick of gum as an example, he took that "boring elongated rectangle" and turned that stick of gum into an angry character or a happy character with a few twists of his wrist.

The children were quick to volunteer and try their drawing skills when Chris used letters of the alphabet (both capitals and small) and numbers from one to nine to show how the illustrator can transform a letter e.g. a capital A into a hat, witch or grumpy old man, with a couple of strokes. As an observer, I was ready to participate in a workshop with Chris on just drawing!

In addition to illustration, Chris demonstrated how important word choice must be in telling a joke or writing a poem. After a couple of jokes, students caught on quickly to the importance of word choice in the writing process. Students laughed at his tongue-in-cheek poem about his family. The importance of a punch line in a joke was not lost on these young students!

Open Mechanimals to witness the foreshadowing in the book on the half title page or observe the chick bot standing on a wrench. The writer doesn't tell everything, because on the title page, readers see the farmer fixing his tractor, which visually demonstrates the farmer's mechanical abilities. The first pages of the story are illustrated within the box. After the tornado hits the farm, the farmer must use that wrench to replace the animals that were lost. The farmer is a creative thinker like Chris, who likes to think "outside the box," and one drawing of the farmer actually expands beyond the frame on the page. Also, look for the symbol of luck when other people doubt the farmer's abilities.

Chris really challenged students and teachers to think outside the box. I can hardly wait for his next book or work of art!

Naomi Kral, Willow Director

Because of production constraints, Jacqueline Berting of Berting Glass was no longer able to produce the sand cast Willow Award. With her suggestions and artistic talents, a new Willow award has been produced.

The new award consists of a laser-cut metal version of the Willow Award Logo set in a glass base. The 2009 awards, presented at Saltcoats School on April 30, 2010 are the first presentations of the new award.

The laser-cut metal was produced by Hi-Tec Profiles Inc. of Regina and the base was produced by Berting Glass.

The Willow Awards is very pleased to be able to continue to present an award produced by Saskatchewan artists. We think the new award is as stunning as the retired award.

We extend our thanks to Jacky Berting and to Regan Wagner of Hi-Tec Profiles who facilitated the laser-cutting. Their talents and support have been invaluable.

30 sets of Shining Willow nominees, 19 sets of Diamond Willow nominees and 13 sets of Snow Willow nominees were purchased from our longtime supporter and patron, the Book & Brier Patch in Regina. The sets were then sent to 59 schools and 2 public libraries throughout the province to encourage children to begin reading the 2010 nominees.

This project was completed by Willow Awards board members Donna Koch, Naomi Kral and Margaret Steger with the help of volunteers Marion Perry, Darla Stroeder, Kerry Armbruster-Barrett and Monte Barrett.

The Willow Awards board thanks the over 11,000 voters for the 2009 winners and encourages even more children to read the nominees and vote for the 2010 winners.

The Willow's youngest reader!

After the dinner, raffle prizes were drawn for and the popsicle stick activity winners were chosen. Also announced were the names of the 48 lucky bidders for silent auction items. The evening drew to a close with Margaret thanking Reza and Tracy from Alfredo's Eastgate.

Full details and information on how to obtain tickets is here.

The highlight of the evening was guest speaker Rebecca Grambo who took us on a wonderful "Journey of Curiosity" complete with amazing photos. Rebecca is a local author and photographer who has published many books. We were delighted with the generous support she so willingly gave to our fundraiser and The Willow Awards. You can learn more about Rebecca’s books and her many other interests at http://www.wildthreads.com/books.html.

Thanks to John Barton for being our MC for the evening and to Wayne Rollack for providing technical assistance. Saskatoon SYRCA Board members Ann Atchison, Florence Barton and Ruth Garnett and former board members Elsbeth Dormuth, Kathy Sharman, Cheryl Smith and Carol Thiessen organized the evening.

Thank you to everyone who attended and to all the donors of items for the silent auction. Your support of Saskatchewan Young Reader’s Choice Awards "The Willow Awards" Inc. is truly appreciated.

Annual General Meeting

• Founding member, Marion Perry, resigned after 8 years of distinguished service to the SYRCA - Willow Awards.
• Three new board members were elected: Bev Bjornson-Kowalchuk, Deborah Jackson and Charlene Leaderhouse. Jocelyn Mark Provost became the SLA rep in March
• The election of officers was held

Board Meeting

• A review and discussion of ongoing tasks, timelines and board members' duties took place.
• Recruiting for a vacant director position would continue.
• The 2009 Launch was discussed and a Launch committee was struck. The Launch will run during October, with the submission deadline in November.

Marion was presented with a paperweight and flowers from the SYRCA board.

Marion Perry has provided extraordinary service to SYRCA --The Willow Awards for over 8 years. In 2000, the Saskatchewan School Library Association (SSLA) executive hired Marion Perry as a consultant to investigate the possibility of creating a children's choice book award for Saskatchewan. Her report was accepted by SSLA and an interested group of people formed a charter Board of Directors to build the organization. They elected Marion to be the first President of the Willow Awards. She did the hard but vital spadework of drafting a constitution and bylaws, and seeing to incorporation. Under her leadership the Willow Awards grew from the first year with 5,000 young people voting to the over 10,000 votes received for the 2008-2009 Awards.

Marion Perry served as President of SYRCA Inc. from 2001 to 2005, when she became Past-President until 2008. She then served another year as a Director at Large. Among many duties and tasks during these years, Marion chaired the Fund-Raising Dinner committees, was Webmaster overseeing the development of the new Willow website and electronic voting, edited the newsletter and the annual posters and bookmarks. She also acted as invaluable mentor to subsequent Presidents and Directors.

SYRCA--The Willow Awards expresses it's gratitude and thanks with the presentation of the Distinguised Service Award.

• attendance at Board Meetings (4 to 5 a year - 1 or 2 are conference calls)
• participation in the work of making the Willow Awards a reality each year and ensuring the organization continues.  

The tasks are many and varied.  For more information, please contact Florence at willowawards@willowawards.ca.

The Willows Need YOU!

Photos below top to bottom:

• a student "impressario" draws questions from a top hat for student panel members
• impressario" and student panel members wear their clown noses and pose with Willow Awards' Board Member, Donna Koch
  
• Caroline Adderson autographs student's book.

Alfredo’s Eastgate, 3217 Eastgate Drive, Regina
Cocktails 5:30, Dinner 6:30

Tickets $35.00 ($12 tax receipt)
Ticket includes coffee & gratuity.
Menu: chicken parmesan or vegetarian (eggplant parmesan)
Please specify vegetarian when purchasing tickets.

Tickets available from:
Information & Library Services, Regina Catholic Schools –791-7211
Information & Library Services, Regina Public Schools– 523-3117
Claire Isaac -  777-6034
Marion Perry  - 586-0691

Highlights from the business meeting:  

• Six schools: Brevoort Park, Saskatoon, Eyebrow Sr. School, Eyebrow; Lindale School, Moose Jaw, Mortlach School, Mortlach; Ethel Milliken School, Regina; Dr. Hanna School, Regina will receive books for submitting Launch Activities. Brevoort Park will receive the nominated books; the others will receive a box of approximately 30 books.

• The 2009 Gala will be at Lumsden Elementary School.

• A new edition of our newsletter, Willow Winds, will be published in December.

• The Willow Awards will now recognize Gold Patrons who donate $5000 or more and Silver Patrons who donate $3000 to$4999, in addition to Patrons ($1000-$2999), Sponsors ($500 to $999), Friends ($100-$499) and Members ($20- $99).
  

SYRCA - The Willow Awards acknowledges and thanks the Literacy Commission for its support.

Seventy-six Willow Awards' supporters mingled, viewed the nominated books, and enjoyed the buffet at the Conexus Credit Union Willow Awards Brunch on October 26. We were pleased to welcome as guests, representatives of our patrons: Robert Green from Book and Brier, Eleanor Corby and Debbie Kraus from SaskSmart, and Cyndi Tycholis from Conexus Credit Union.

A very special guest, 7-year-old Sarah, read Grumpy Bird to the group while guests followed along with the book at their table. A slide presentation showed highlights of the Willow Awards' seven year history. Many received door prizes and one lucky person who renewed or took out a new membership won a prize basket.

An important announcement revealed a donation from SaskSmart to continue development of the website. The Willow Awards thanks SaskSmart, Conexus Credit Union, the title sponsor of the brunch, and all its patrons, sponsors, friends and members.

The evening was enjoyed by all and a lucky few went home with coveted auction items. The winner of the Quilt is Sarah Godson from Buena Vista School in Saskatoon.

After dinner,Wilfred read his book, Fiddler Dancer, and explained how he worked with co-author, Ann Patton, and illustrator Sherry Farrell Racette.  Guests also learned about the Métis culture with Wilfred instructing everyone how to dance the Red River Jig.