Schools making extra-special efforts to spark a love of literacy only have until this Friday, April 27 to enter the Kent Literacy Awards.

The annual awards event celebrates schools’ success in encouraging reading, writing, speaking, and listening – not just by presenting the winners with their awards, but by publicising their achievements across the county.

All the winning schools will be featured in a booklet sent to every school in Kent, Medway, Bexley, and Bromley, describing their good work so that schools can be inspired by each other.

Any primary or secondary school in the region can enter – and the range of categories, from best punctuation and grammar initiative to most engaging use of poetry, is sufficiently wide to encompass the many ideas teachers come up with to motivate their pupils.

The 100 schools which have joined the KM Charity Team’s reading reward scheme, Buster’s Book Club, have extra opportunities to win through specific categories relating to the scheme.

Winners will be invited to a ceremony at the Hempstead House Hotel in Sittingbourne in June, when they will be presented with trophies and certificates.

Jonathan Fullarton, associate at McCabe Ford Willliams, which is supporting the awards, explained: “It’s a great idea - schools can share a platform for ideas and what works with children.”

Organiser Karen Brinkman, from the KM Charity Team, which runs the awards, said: “Through Buster’s Book Club, we see the huge efforts schools make to encourage children to explore books and develop their vocabulary and imagination.”

She added: “We’ve seen everything from reading buddies and book quizzes to ‘Murder in the Library’ and a manga and animé club. What is really great is that the awards help schools to work together and build on each other’s ideas, so that more children can benefit.”

The Kent Literacy Awards are supported by Kent County Council, Medway Council, KM Facilities Management Group, Reed Education, Specsavers, Tribeca Technology Group, Beanstalk, Golding Vision (part of Golding Homes), Whitefriars, McCabe Ford Williams, Orbit, London Borough of Bexley, and DDS Environmental.

To enter before the deadline of this Friday, April 27, visit www.kentliteracyawards.co.uk