Developing literacy in childhood is crucial because it forms the foundation for all future learning and communication. The KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards have been running for 30 years and help kids all over Ireland develop literacy skills to help them make sense of the world around them - as well as having fun along the way!
Promoting a love of reading ensures children acquire knowledge, solve problems, and express their thoughts effectively. As part of its focus on literacy, some years ago KPMG took over as title sponsor of the KPMG Childrens Books Ireland Awards to recognise the importance of reading for children and the impact of literacy on society.
Why it matters
We’re committed to lifelong learning and improving literacy levels across Ireland.
The Awards take place each May as part of the International Literature Festival Dublin. Karina Howley, Head of Corporate Citizenship and Diversity at KPMG explains. “We know that strong literacy skills are vital in education, as reading is essential across all subjects.” Howley says that literacy also supports children’s development by helping foster self-confidence, critical thinking, and empathy. “There’s no doubt that early exposure to books and language helps build vocabulary, comprehension, and cognitive abilities, setting children on a path for lifelong learning and personal growth.”
Karina highlights the role of skills based volunteering in KPMG’s approach to promoting reading, noting the benefits of harnessing workforce commitment and capability to help improve societal challenges. According to Karina, “We have an incredible spirt of generosity amongst our people and its essential to channel that where it can really make a difference.”
Karina explains that the KPMG Childrens Books Ireland Awards really benefit from the commitment of hew KPMG colleagues. Howley says; “Each spring, ahead of the awards in May, our KPMG volunteers visit schools across Ireland to help Junior Juries groups get excited about reading. Hundreds of groups of young readers around the country signed up to be Junior Juries for KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Award. We’re committed to lifelong learning and improving literacy levels across Ireland through staff volunteering.”
Telling tales
Reading is a gift that can last for a lifetime.
Storytelling is an innate part of who we are on this island and the awards seek to promote this. For Karina, storytelling matters for children because it is a powerful tool for learning, connection, and development. Through stories, children learn about language, culture, emotions, and problem-solving while engaging their imaginations and creativity.
It also strengthens literacy skills, such as vocabulary, comprehension, and sequencing, as children listen to and retell stories. Furthermore, storytelling fosters emotional development by allowing children to explore feelings, empathy, and different perspectives through characters and situations.
For Elaina Ryan, CEO of Childrens Books Ireland, the value of reading and storytelling should be encourage from an early age. “It’s vital that families build reading into their day right from the very start of a baby’s life and encourage reading through the teenage years and beyond.”
Ryan notes that a robust body of evidence shows the many and varied benefits of reading, among them positive effects on literacy and numeracy, improved mental wellbeing and higher levels of empathy.
“Children who read for pleasure regularly perform better at school, and readers are more likely to overcome the barriers caused by disadvantage. Above all, though, reading is a gift that can last for a lifetime. A book allows a child to take comfort, to explore difficult situations in a safe way, to escape to fantastical worlds, to be entertained, to learn, and so much more.”
Picture this
The KPMG Childrens Books Ireland Awards also reinforce the importance of illustration. According to Karina Howley, the illustration category is a hugely popular elements of the awards. “We have an incredible wealth of illustration talent in Ireland and illustration really is really important in children's books because it enhances understanding, engagement, and enjoyment of the story
For Elaina Ryan of Childrens Books Ireland, illustration and picturebooks are a child’s first introduction to stories, to their own small world and the greater world around them, to colours and shapes.
“They are works of art, with some expertly telling complex stories without any words at all. Too often, when a child reaches a certain age they are ‘weaned off ’ picturebooks and guided towards chapterbooks with more text and fewer illustrations which can then make reading feel like a daunting task.”
Ireland has a rich seam of talent when it comes to illustrators. For recommendations of brilliant illustrated books, Childrens Books Ireland produced a reading guide called Picture This, which is free to download from their website.
This guide not only recommends wonderful illustrated texts but sends a clear message that there is no need to graduate from images to text – visual literacy is crucial, too, and stories with pictures are for everyone.
How Ireland compares
So how is Ireland doing in terms of children’s literacy? According to Elaina Ryan, Ireland performs well in international reading assessments, with PIRLS (at primary level) and PISA (at secondary level) being the two on which most emphasis is placed. Both measure reading literacy and Ireland is among the highest performing countries in both studies. “However, both Irish and international studies show universally that those from less advantaged backgrounds and boys from all backgrounds do not perform as well at reading literacy and are reading less than girls and those from more advantaged backgrounds.”
Ryan emphasises that even as one of the higher performing nations in the literacy rankings, there is a marked difference between performing at reading literacy – that is, the ability to understand and engage with texts – and what we call reading for joy. “Our view, which is supported by evidence, is that we must encourage reading for the sheer joy of it at every age in order to develop lifelong readers who can reap the many benefits of being a reader, and delight in the artforms of literature and illustration.”
Children’s Books Ireland is dedicated to giving every child on the island of Ireland the opportunity to become a reader. Every year they publish hundreds of book reviews to help guide the adults in children’s lives, they work with schools to embed a culture of reading for joy throughout the education cycle and support the authors and illustrators who make great work for children and young people.
Summing up for KPMG, Karina says “The feedback that we get from our own people in encouraging kids to read is phenomenal. The awards themselves are a tremendous celebration of reading and the positive impact on all of our participants is palpable.”