It pays to read books to your children according to one of the Illawarra’s latest award-winning authors.
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Danika Hall was presented the prestigious Charlotte Waring Barton Award at the recent annual CBCA NSW Branch Lady Cutler Dinner.
In addition to receiving this award the previously unpublished author will now have the opportunity to work with HarperCollins Publishers Australia and further develop her skills through the 2016 Aspiring Writers Mentorship Program.
Hall’s winning manuscript is ironically about a girl asserting her right to not succeed.
But, The Trophy Family Challenge wouldn’t have been written at all if it wasn’t for Hall’s children.
‘’Reading books with my own children for the past 15 years helped me discover a passion for children's fiction writing. I especially love to write for middle-grade readers aged 8- 12 years,’’ she said.
The Trophy Family Challenge is written from the perspective of Caterina, who has the misfortune to be part of an overachieving family. A keenly observed and witty insider in the world of the trophy obsessed, Cat is battling to eek out her own identity.
Lisa Berryman, HarperCollins Publisher and one of this year’s award judges, praised Hall’s manuscript.
‘’'It is child focused, fun, straight forward in storytelling and very relatable to the audience,’’ she said.
High praise indeed for Hall, who only joined the Illawarra South Coast Sub-branch of the CBCA (NSW) three years ago.
‘’I am thrilled and honoured to receive the award and feel very grateful to the CBCA NSW Branch and HarperCollins for this opportunity to work on my manuscript and further hone my writing skills,’’ she said.
Hall will begin her extensive mentorship in 2017 with HarperCollins Children's Books where she and her novel, The Trophy Family Challenge, will benefit from two three-hour guidance sessions with a leading published author and three-hours with a publisher, editor and marketing communications specialist.
Visit www.nsw.cbca.org.au for more information about the mentorship program.
But before Hall starts this program, she will take part in CBCA’s next free Kids Day Out at Dapto Ribbonwood Centre on January 18, 2017.
She is one of 14 authors/illustrators/performers entertaining children from early childhood through to upper primary.
Kids Day Out activities include story-time, dress-ups, creative writing, poetry, publishing, comedy and craft. Visit http://nsw.cbca.org.au/pages/illawarrasouthcoast.html for more information.
