|
|
|
  |
| Sunday, 5 June 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Book awards judged by children
However, book awards where the judges are children may be news to you. This is certainly the case when it comes to the Red House Children's Book Awards of Britain. The prize made annually is said to be the only children's book awards to be decided by children. The awards, established in 1980 and presented for the first time in 1981, has come a long way. In its 25th year, they have attracted more entries and more child participants than ever. The awards are co-ordinated by the Federation of Children's Book Groups in the UK, an umbrella organisation for various book groups spread across the country. Children belonging to these groups initially review books and select 10 books to be voted on. The best book of the year is selected from this 10, and decided according to the readers' votes. Past winners of the awards include Private Peaceful by Michael Morpugo in 2004, Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz in 2003 and Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman in 2002. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series was also a winner. The Chamber of Secrets and The Philosopher's Stone won the best book award while The Goblet of Fire and The Prisoner of Azkaban were 'category' winners. ########### Open Schools to help drop-outs 'Open Schools', a novel project in the education sector was inaugurated by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga at the President's House recently. The ground-breaking concept will assist school drop-outs to return to formal education, and has been devised by the National Institute of Education. The first such project in Sri Lanka, it will come into operation under the National Programme of Education For All. 'Open Schools', which will be similar to 'Open Universities', will give an opportunity for those who lost out on a formal education, to continue their studies. The project will initially focus on secondary education. The concept will later be extended to include primary education and vocational training. Such Open Schools are popular in developed countries, as well as in India, and some East Asian countries. Inaugurating the programme, the President said that imparting knowledge to a group of persons of different age groups, with different educational needs will be a complicated process. However, she said, all efforts will be taken to ensure that the targets are achieved. Education authorities have been directed to secure the guidance of local and foreign institutions and academics in this regard. The Open Schools Department of the National Institute of Education and the Faculty of Education For All have already begun working on the course material. ############ Today is World Environment Day
This year's celebrations, under the theme 'Green Cities', will be carried out under the slogan 'Plan for the Planet!'. The main events will be held in San Francisco, California in the USA, where mayors from all around the world will gather to celebrate green cities and to create a plan for a sustainable urban future. The UNEP has recognised the important role mayors play in the development of their respective cities; hence, this year's focus on them. Activities regarding WED started on June 1 and will conclude today. Each day had a specific theme - Pure elements, Redesigning metropolises, Cities on the move, Urban power and Flower power, which is the concluding theme for today. The theme 'Green Cities' takes into account the fact that cities throughout the world have now overtaken rural locations as residential areas. Cities dominate in every sphere and consume 75 per cent of the Earth's natural resources. They should be sustained in a proper and methodical manner if the future generations are to lead safer and healthier lives. The WED was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 and is hosted by different cities each year. The day was introduced with the idea of empowering people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development, promoting the understanding that communities are essential to changing attitudes to environmental issues, and encouraging partnerships which ensure that all nations and people enjoy a safe and more prosperous future. Street rallies, bicycle parades, concerts, competitions in schools and tree planting, recycling and clean-up campaigns are organised to commemorate the day. ############ Star Wars strikes gold The Star Wars series is a giant in the movie world and most of you may have watched at least one of the movies from the series. The good news for Star Wars fans is that another episode in the series has now been released in international movie theatres. The bad news is, that 'Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith' will be the concluding instalment of this series, which had captured audiences for over 25 years. The space fantasy, directed by George Lucas, opened in the USA and UK recently, breaking box office records. Fans of the movie flocked to be some of the first people to watch the final instalment of Star Wars. The movie earned a record 10.7 million sterling pounds on its opening three-day weekend in the UK, beating the previous champion 'Shrek 2' by 90,000 pounds. The sci-fi epic also broke the four-day weekend record, earning 14.4 million pounds, beating the 11.4 million total earned by the previous Star Wars release, 'Attack of the Clones'. |
|
||||||||
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Politics | Produced by Lake House |
Book awards are nothing new to us. We have heard of awards that are
presented annually to the best books, out of a selected group of books
published that year. The Booker Prize of England is an example, while in
Sri Lanka, we have the Gratien Prize. 
The World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated every year on June 5.
Various activities are organised by the United Nations under the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP) on this day, to increase awareness about the
environment and enhance political attention and public action on the
issue. 
