NSW Premier's Reading Challenge - 2026

The last time I devoted an entry to the NSW Premier's Challenge (PRC) was in 2018. I did make references to the PRC in 2023 and 2024. In 2023, I had mentioned that there were no spine labels to identify PRC Books while commenting on Genre Labels on the spines of books and in 2024, I mentioned PRC medals being presented to students as part of the school's annual presentation day at the Sydney Opera House.

Firstly, I can mention that last year I finished labelling the spines with books featured in the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge in 2025. I had done this largely unassisted, carefully going through our fiction collection, item by item. We had countless books that were meant to be listed as PRC books, but because they had a different ISBN number from the one officially listed on SCIS, I had to manually add them in OLIVER.

This also meant that I could update the PRC lists and also created a general list to consolidate the reading lists for secondary schools into one list. In effect, I doubled the number of available items with a PRC listing. I estimate around 1000 books in the fiction collection at my school are in the PRC.

I designed my own label using Microsoft Word and an RAECO template and applied it as a standard label to all PRC books, since the Year 5-6 reading list can also be accessed by secondary school students. Any PRC Books that were not Year 5-6, Years 7-9 and Year 9+ were not stickered.

Feel free to email me at fabian.amuso@det.nsw.edu.au if you would like a copy to use when labelling PRC items in your collections.

For our PRC display, just having the label on it has saved time setting it up.

In 2024, I also began presenting Gold and Platinum awards at our school assemblies each year. I enjoy the opportunity to recognise the students who commit themselves over a sustained period of time. It is an advocacy tool in itself, encouraging students to challenge themselves to set reading goals and realise that reading for pleasure can be rewarding. You can be rewarded for reading regularly. For some students, it may be the only time they are recognised at a whole-school level for their efforts in anything. 

Let's see what 2026 brings. I know one student who has not participated for a few years wants to give it a go this year, and I feel encouraged when a student seeks assistance with filling out their reading records, even at this early stage.

What I am also encouraged to is how its easier to participate than ever e.g. books read aloud by teachers in high school count towards the total of 20 books read, whereas it was previously for primary school participants only, an additional month added for students to participate and complete the challenge but also only needing to read just 10 books from the official list (down from 15).

The 2019 NSW PRC - Not too early to start!!!

The official period for the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge commences in early march, but students are not often aware that any book that they start reading on September 1 of the previous year can count.

I have seen the look on students faces when they hear this. Reading 20 books in six months can be daunting, especially when mixed in with the other committments that go in the life of a school student. Being asked to read one book per week can be a little difficult

This year the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge concluded on August 31, giving students one year to meet the challenge of reading 20 books if they were in Year's 7-9 which I will focus on given my secondary training.

But how can we help them to get there?

Averaging it out, students would need to read at least one book every two and half weeks. If the reading was done in school time, a book per fortnight.

I would begin any promotion for the PRC in 2019 now. Encourage your students to keep reading. 

Keeping a record of books read from now until March is going to be a tough challenge. 

In some schools, students are required to keep a reading log as part of their wide reading program. While there is a template provided by the organisers of the PRC, you may wish to create your own. 

For verification, students should provide a one paragraph review listing:

• What the book was about
• Who should the book be recommended to.

Even have the review published on the library catalogue. Softlink Oliver enables this function.

Congrtulations to Waverley College PRC Participants

I was reading Nurrunga (Newsletter for Waverley College) this week and was impressed to read about the efforts of those who did the NSW Premiers Reading Challenge this year. 79 boys completed the challenge this year. I am proud of them all. Congratulations to the boys and the Library Team.

When I finished at the end of Term 1, 95 had registered. I do not know the final figure for registrations.

Below is the newsletter article.

NSW Premiers Reading Challenge 2016

It is that time of year again, with the NSW Premiers Reading Challenge now underway for students in Kindergarten through to Year 9.

I have been involved in the setup this year at my current school, and have been busy promoting the challenge, and having it to do it with no resources from the official website as nothing has been provided. Other Teacher Librarian's have flagged this as well over the past week or two on message boards. To promote the challenge, I decided to create a "logo" from a header used in the reading log from last year. I have sent it to one Teacher Librarian. Feel free to contact me if you want a copy. However I am aware from the NSW PRC newsletter that promotional material is on the way.

I have visited a number of English classes and have been encouraged by the response by the students. In fact it looks like the number of kids participating is set to double from 2015.

There have been a few that have expressed their interest that you might not normally associate with reading. I will admit that while it is not a race to see who reads 20 books first, some have joined after I persuaded them do so as a way of outshining their peers., and using that as a challenge for them to hopefully get them to read 20 books. 

Yes, I have certainly got in early and why not. With busy lives, the kids need as much time as possible to read. I felt last year that there was rushing towards the end, and that worked against some kids. It was too late to reach the goal. Getting them to read before the official start has been a focus with a brochure printed out and distributed. 

Premiers Reading Challenge

I'm working at Waverley College this term reliving a Teacher Librarian who has taken long service leave. This is my second block at the school.

This term, I will continue to log my thoughts and experiences as any journal or blog and what I have learn't from it. Even in full time work, this is a learning journey and a place for me to reflect.

One task that I've been doing this term has been the cataloguing of the items featuring in the Premiers Reading Challenge. I've been a supporter of it because it gives kids an incentive to read and the titles on the list cater to all reading abilities and all reading interests.

I wish it had been around when I was at school because reading was treated as chore. We had to read because our teachers made us do it with designated periods to do so in the library. I loved to read and as a adult love to read, but I was not allowed to read non fiction books for instance. It had to be fiction. There were no reading lists and if you didn't read a certain amount, there was the possibility of detention. Some items were also studied in English and you had to read the book whether you liked it or not. I think it turned me off from reading until I was at University, when I rediscovered the marvels of reading a book.

The Premiers Reading Challenge actually gives incentive for kids to read. A challenge is set for them to read a certain number of books of their choice (from a list) within a specified time frame. Even magazine articles and newspaper articles can be counted if they come across an item that interests them. I was  amazed to see them listed (under various). People love to work towards a goal, and the Premiers Reading Challenge does that.