MEET THE 2020/2021 OXFORD BIG READ GLOBAL WINNERS

INSPIRED BY READING

This year, student champions participating in Oxford Big Read selected books of their choice from lists of qualifying OUP readers. The students’ reading selections reflect both classic and contemporary themes. Winning submissions demonstrated thoughtful design, well-crafted essays, and critical thinking.

Participating branches of Oxford University Press including Mainland China, India, and Pakistan, received thousands of submissions through participating schools and institutions and choose winners in their respective national campaigns. These winners became semi-finalists in the regional Oxford Big Read Global campaign. Below you will meet the winners of our third-annual regional campaign.

CATEGORIES FOR PARTICIPATION

CATEGORY 1: DESIGN A NEW BOOK JACKET

* For those aged 5 years old to 8 years old at the time of entry

All participants read an OUP book and then designed a new book cover for the book.

CATEGORY 2: TELL US WHAT YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT THE BOOK OR WHAT YOU WOULD CHANGE

* For those aged 9 years old to 12 years old at the time of entry

All participants read an OUP book and then wrote a written response describing what they found interesting or what they would change about the book.

CATEGORY 3: WRITE A CRITICAL REVIEW OF AN OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS BOOK

* For those aged 13 years old to 15 years old at the time of entry

All participants read an OUP book and wrote a critical review describing the theme, plot, and characters.

mEET THE JUDGES

Sarah Brennan

Sarah Brennan is the author of the best-selling Chinese Calendar Tales and the Dirty Story series for primary school aged kids, illustrated by the human rights award-winning cartoonist Harry Harrison; the highly acclaimed children’s picture book Storm Whale, illustrated by award-winning Australian artist Jane Tanner, and Dummies for Mummies, a tongue in cheek guide for mothers navigating the perils of child-rearing in Hong Kong. Her first chapter book for pre-teens, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah, will be published by Blacksmith Books in November. In addition, for the last 11 years she has run regular international story-writing and poetry competitions for primary school students on her blog at www.sarahbrennanblog.com.

PETE SPURRIER

Pete Spurrier left London to travel east along the Silk Road in 1991, and two years later he arrived in Hong Kong. In the years since then, he has written three bestselling guidebooks, edited a monthly magazine and contributed stories to anthologies, newspapers and other publications. Now, he compiles a weekly edutainment newspaper for pre-teens and also runs a local publishing house called Blacksmith Books.

MARTIN ALEXANDER

Martin Alexander was born in Benghazi, grew up in Peru and lived for many years in Hong Kong. He is Editor in Chief of the Asia Literary Review and was a trustee of the UK’s Poetry Society from 2010-2013. Martin’s poetry, short stories and travel writing have been widely published. He won the South China Morning Post Short Story Competition in 1999 and his poetry collection, Clearing Ground, was published by Chameleon Press in 2004. In 2009 he was awarded the Orient-Occident International Grand Prix for Poetry. Martin has been a featured writer and moderator at literary events and festivals in Bangkok, Beijing, Cairo, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, London and Romania.