Paris, 6 September 1999

South African Newspaper Receives World Young Reader Prize

The Sunday Times of South Africa on Monday received the 1999 World Young Reader Prize, an annual award from the World Association of Newspapers to the newspaper that devised the year's most innovative project to develop young readership.

The Sunday Times received the award at the 3rd International Newspapers in Education Conference in Paris for its four-page "ReadRight" weekly supplement that provides story books, exercises, maps and a wide range of activities to attract and instruct the young. The materials have attracted strong support from teachers, sponsors and readers.

"I think it is worth mentioning that in addition to supporting the formal academic curriculum, ReadRight provides materials which support the new government's commitment to the transformation of the country, promoting democratic values, cultural and religious tolerance and a multilingual society," said Timothy Balding, Director General of WAN, who presented the award.

"WAN's intention in this and other such initiatives is to get the newspaper industry to focus much more on the importance of NIE and young reader projects both for the future of our business and the well-being of the societies in which we live," he said.

Last year, a shortage of textbooks prompted the Sunday Times to publish the entire syllabus in the paper over a six-week period in an effort to help the Education Department get the right curriculum materials into schools.

Later in the year, textbooks still had not reached many schools, and the newspaper decided to launch the "ReadRight" programme -- which is now being used by regular readers countrywide. The Times also delivers 35,000 copies of the newspaper and supplement to 900 rural and township schools across South Africa.

Lisa Blakeway, Editor of ReadRight, said the programme aimed "to help a future generation of young readers in a country still bearing the brunt of apartheid education's skewered past."

Judges also awarded a Special Jury Commendation to La Nación of Costa Rica for its highly effective "Reading Fairs" that turn a newspaper executive's simple visit to a school into an exciting day-long event.

The Paris-based WAN represents 15,000 newspapers world-wide. Its membership includes 61 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and seven regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to:

Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 25 rue d'Astorg, 75008 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr