EDINBURGH BOOK CLUB WINS PENGUIN/ORANGE BROADBAND
READERS' GROUP PRIZE 2008
London, 28 August 2008: Laura's Book Group from Edinburgh has won the 2008 Penguin/Orange Broadband Readers'
Group Prize. As part of their prize, the reading group will receive a
visit from author Lauren St. John who will lead a reading group session on her
book, Rainbow's End (Penguin).
Now in its seventh
year, the aim of the prize is to find reading groups that illustrate
individuality, reflect diversity of reading choices and demonstrate the
pleasure of shared reading.
Laura's
Book Group has been meeting for over two and a half years, in and around Edinburgh. There are
eleven women and two men in the group, who travel from all over central Scotland
to attend meetings which are occasionally held in venues pertinent to the
book's theme. Recently they met in the meeting room of a pub below the Forth Road
Bridge when discussing
The Thirty-Nine Steps.
Laura Wilkie, founder of the book group commented: "We
can't believe it! We love our book group, so to be given this
recognition from Penguin and Orange
is such an honour. Laura's Book Group has made a difference to all
our lives, taking on a life of its own with catch-phrases, weekend AGM's
away, culinary experimentation and stimulating friendships with people we would
otherwise have never met. The benefits have been more than we would ever have
expected three years ago!"
Nicci Gerrard,author and Chair of judges said: "We felt Laura's Book
Group demonstrated exactly what we were looking for - a total passion for
books. Literature had seeped into every area of their life with their annual
awards, meetings in themed venues etc.
"It was also tremendously encouraging for me as a writer to
see such enthusiasm for literature amongst such a young group of professional
men and women who obviously have full and busy lives, but who make time to read
and discuss books together."
The judging panel for the Penguin/Orange Broadband
Readers' Group Prize 2008 consists of:
- Nicci Gerrard, Penguin author and one half of crime writing duo
Nicci French (Chair) - Professor Jenny Hartley, Roehampton University, Author
of The Reading Groups Book - Jo James, Events and Local Marketing Manager,
Waterstone's - Clare Chandler, co-director of the reading group website,
www.bookgroup.info - Dymphna Flynn, producer of Radio 4's Book Club
- Karen Cunningham, Head of Libraries in Glasgow
Second place was
awarded to Bullingdon Prison Reading Group from Oxfordshire. Founded in 2001,
this is one of the longest running prison groups in the country. Its members
are male prisoners of all ages, joined by library staff and a volunteer
co-ordinator. They win two sets of the 2008 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction
shortlist.
Entries from Canterbury, Doncaster, London
and Warwickshire were among the finalists. Entrants were asked where they meet, what they read, how they choose
their members and what their reading group means to them. Entrants were also
asked to write up to 500 words about what makes their reading group special.
Magda Lojszczyk, Partnerships Manager, Orange UK commented: "We've had such an interesting mix of entries
this year. Congratulations again to Laura's Book Group who demonstrated a
genuine passion for books and their group."
In addition to the prizes, groups also had a chance to win
visits from Penguin ambassadors including Rachel Johnson, Jane Johnson and
Nicci French. They will each undertake a reading group session with the
following reading groups chosen at random from the 2008 entries:
Bullingdon
Prison, Oxfordshire - will receive a visit from Nicci Gerrard
Fowey
Library Reading Group, Cornwall
- will receive a visit from Jane Johnson
Final
reading group being confirmed for Rachel Johnson's visit.
Previous
winners of the Penguin/Orange Broadband Readers' Group Prize include
Books on the Broad from Oxford (2007), the
Parish Reading Group from Leicestershire (2006) and the High Down Prison Reading Group from Surrey (2005).
For further information:
Notes to Editors:
Penguin
*Penguin Group is part of Pearson plc, the
international media company with market leading businesses in education,
business information and consumer publishing. For more information visit
www.pearson.com
* Penguin is one of Britain's top brand names. It is
ranked as the 10th greatest media brand in the world (The World's Greatest
Brands ed: Nicholas Kochan, Interbrand)
*The Penguin brand went online in 1995 and
penguin.co.uk was re-launched with a brand new look in October 2000, covering a
wide range of books and authors, from Zadie Smith and Steven Pinker to Jamie
Oliver and Nick Hornby. Site statistics show consistent growth in visitors to
penguin.co.uk, with visitor figures since re-launch up by 90% and page
impressions increased by 70%.
*Penguin's Reading Group website
www.penguin.co.uk/readers was launched in March 2001 and now has over 6000
subscribers, an increase of 443% on December 2002.
Orange
Orange
is a key brand of the France Telecom Group, providing mobile, broadband, fixed,
business and entertainment services across Europe.
It is one of the world's leading telecommunications operators with more than
170 million customers on five continents.
In June, 2006, Orange
became the single brand for mobile, broadband and multi-play offers. In
addition, Orange Business Services became the new banner for business
communications solutions. Orange Business Services is present in 166 countries
with network reach in 220.
In the UK, Orange provides high quality GSM coverage to 99% of the UK
population. At the end of March 2008, Orange had
over 16.9 million customers in the UK - 15.8 million active
mobile customers and over 1.1 million broadband customers.
Orange
and any other Orange product or service names
included in this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications
Services Limited.
Further information about Orange and
France Telecom can be found on the Orange
website at www.orange.co.uk or the France Telecom website at
www.francetelecom.com
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