The Annual Library Challenge Award

Sophie Roberts Winner 2011

The aim of the new Library Challenge Award is to encourage students to develop their reading over the summer holiday and reflect on what they have read. This year students were set the task of reading at least six novels selected from titles recommended by the Librarian and then to answer the question “What makes a classic?” There were 4 lists to choose from #fictionclassics, #cultclassics, mflclassics (modern foreign languages) and #21classics (novels published since 2000). All the titles were available to borrow from the library.

#fictionclassics Wordle

#cultclassics Wordle

The judges were impressed by the different formats students used to answer the question “What makes a classic?” There were examples of blogging, diary style, book reviews and poetry. All the students who entered demonstrated their commitment to what was a challenging task and it was very difficult to decide between them.

However, the winner of the 1^st Library Challenge, Sophie Roberts, showed an extra special engagement with the texts she read. She tackled some of the all -time classic novels, reading her way through, and reflecting on, ‘Disgrace’ by J M Coetze, ‘Far From The Madding Crowd’ by Thomas Hardy, ‘Saturday’ by Ian McEwan, ‘Never Let Me Go’ by Kazuo Ishiguro, ‘I Capture the Castle’ by Dodie Smith and ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne Du Maurier. Sophie received an engraved glass trophy and her own Amazon Kindle (kindly sponsored by The Friends of Kingswood). Watch this space for the theme of the next Library Challenge Award to be announced in May 2012.