Yes, it's that time of the year again... the 2009 Inky Awards!
For the uninitiated, the Inky Awards are Australia's only choice award for young adult literature. Twenty books, published in the previous financial year, are announced as the Inkys Longlist - ten Australian books for the Gold Inky Award, and ten International books for the Silver Inky Award.
Of these books, five from each category will be selected by a panel of judges, and then the voting lines will open, and Australia's teenagers are invited to vote for their favourite book. The book with the most votes wins the Inky Award!
This Thursday, at 1:15pm (AEST), the 2009 Inky Awards will be launched online, and you are welcome to attend! I will be chairing the proceedings, 2008 Gold Inky winning author James Roy will be speaking, and then the 2009 Inky Longlist will be announced.
That sounds great, but how do I attend the launch?
I'm glad you asked! All you need is a computer with a decent internet connection, a current browser with Java installed, and computer speakers.
Firstly, register your attendance on the form here.
Then, before the day, check your system's compatability here. Click on "Configuration Room" to check that your connection and speakers. The first time that you enter Elluminate, it may take a while to download onto your system (up to about 10 minutes) but it will be much faster next time you log in.
Finally, on Thursday, click the Elluminate link that you were given when you registered. Create a name for your login session, then click "Login".
Then sit back, and enjoy the launch. You can contribute comments to the session by typing in the Chat field.
In the meantime, if you're not sure of what to expect with Elluminate, you can watch a recording of a last year's session, where we discussed the 2008 Inkys, by clicking here.
And if you want to know more about the Inky Awards, check out the Centre for Youth Literature's website, inside a dog.
Hope to see you all there online on Thursday! :)
