The Impacts in Australia of Children's Literature Book Awards

Abstract

The objective of this research project is to determine the short term and long term impacts in Australia of book awards for children's literature. The interest in this topic arose from personal experience as a NSW State Judge for the Children's Book Council's 'Books of the Year' awards. It was an exhilarating, stimulating, totally exhausting two years of reading and reviewing 720 books ranging from early childhood to young adult novels and it was an experience that was a deeply satisfying in terms of personal development. In this all-consuming environment, there niggled some questions - was all this effort for a lasting purpose? Did it make any difference? The completion of the two year term of office allowed the questions to be pursued. To the above questions were added others. Who exactly is affected by book awards? How are they affected by book awards? What children's book awards exert influence in Australia? What timeframe could be put around the influence of book awards? In investigating these issues further methodological questions have arisen. What literature is available about children's book awards? What paradigms would apply? What assumptions are made about children's book awards? What methodology would be necessary to investigate these issues? For each of these questions there were ramifications which opened the field to more questions. The purpose of this paper is to show the development of a research design which addressed this cluster of issues. This is the beginning of the journey towards a dissertation within the Professional Doctorate program at The University of New England. In consultation with supervisors, various research designs have undergone refinement, alteration, adjustment and debate. A research design is rather like a map which the researcher draws to show the intended direction. It is a rough sketch map at first but as more knowledge is acquired, more methodical thinking is applied, more choices made about what is manageable and what is not, a firm pathway is gradually devised. Alongside this, some reading about thesis writing (Evans & Gruba 2nd edn 2004, Wolfe 1996, Yeo 2001, UNE Research Guide 2005) has assisted and observation of completed theses offered signposts to the conventions of writing and investigative research. This paper sets out the most recent research design agreed upon. It should be understood that this research design is a work in progress.