The Premier's Reading Challenge is a literacy initiative developed by Australian state governments. It is set not as a competitive event, but rather as an individual challenge to each student, as well as to promote a love of reading books.

The challenge is run in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, and Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

. In Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, a similar program called the Premier's Summer Reading Challenge is run. Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

's conservative Labor government joined the other states in 2008.

Guidelines

The guidelines to the program in each state differ slightly, but students must generally read a minimum of books within a certain amount of books, within a certain amount of time. In some states, these books must be a combination of personal choice books and books from a pre-selected list of approved literature.

In special needs schools

The NSW Premier's Reading Challenge has been used at Mary Brooksbank School, to help give the pupils with intellectual difficulties as many educational opportunities as are possible. The 50 students which attend the school have all successfully completed the challenge in two consecutive years. Many of the students cannot read independently, and so the books on the list were read to them by the teachers.

In the news

In 2005, the Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge attracted over 130,000 students, with 60,000 of these students meeting the requirements for the award by reading 12 books in the set time. In six months, over 1,000,000 books were read by the students.
The Sun-Herald has provided an online section of their website which provides links to articles which can be used as part of the personal choices reading by students in the New South Wales Reading Challenge.