Children were invited to vote for their favorite author. During Award Week, nominated Canadian authors visited participating schools and libraries in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. More than 300 reading groups, and thousands of children from grades four to six, participated this year by reading the forty nominated books.

Adam Paynter a grade six student at St. Jean’s Elementary School and frequent visitor to the Children's Loft attended the awards ceremony in Halifax with Mary Lou Hansen, Manager of the Children’s Loft and Barb Kissick, Children’s Librarian at the Confederation Centre Public Library.

Adam participated in the Hackmatack program both in the Children’s Loft and at his school. He also attended a pizza party held Monday, May 7th in Charlottetown, with several other Hackmatack participants and author Bill Slavin.

As part of the Hackmatack events, a committee consisting of an Educational Consultant, a teacher-librarian, a book seller, the children’s librarian and Adam Paynter, was charged with choosing the non-fiction list for next year.

“Adam was the only young person on the selection committee,” noted Ms. Kissick. “He was asked to join the committee because he showed such a keen interest in the Hackmatack awards. It was a pleasure to work with him.”

St. Jean’s Elementary School Library won a set of next year’s nominated titles for their participation in the reading event. The prize was announced in Halifax at the ceremony for the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Awards for 2007.

Backgrounder:

The Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award is an Atlantic Canadian book award which allows children to choose their favourite Canadian and Atlantic Canadian books. This year, the children read from a selection of forty books divided into four categories: English Fiction, English Non-fiction, French Fiction and French Non-fiction, chosen for their literary, cultural and enjoyment factors.

2007 Winners:

Pamela Porter, the author of The Crazy Man, was the winner in the English fiction category; Elizabeth MacLeod received the English non-fiction award for her book Harry Houdini, A Magical Life; the winner of the French fiction category was Diane Bergeron for L'atlas perdu; and Annie Groovie received the award in French non-fiction for her book Léon et les expressions.

For more information about the award program, visit the website at www.hackmatack.ca.