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.
Awards and Prizes
Three Winners will each receive:
- an iPad
- an official award certificate
Three Runners-up will each receive:
- a cash award or gift certificate (equivalent to £100.00 GBP)
- an official award certificate
Announcing the official regional winners of the 2019/2020

Congratulations to all our champion artists and scholars!
Category 1
Design a New Book Jacket
Winner
Ages 5-8


Name: Yawen Cai
Entry: Underground Adventure by Roderick Hunt & Alex Brychta
School:
Country: Mainland China
Teacher:
Congratulations on your excellent writing skills, with perfect spelling and grammar! I was really impressed by your vocabulary, and your detailed explanation of what you got out of the book. And your cover was great too! An outstanding entry!
Runner-up
Ages 5-8


Name: Muhammad Zaid
Entry: Suraj the Tiger Cub by Farida Mirza
School: Generation’s School
Country: Pakistan
Teacher: Ms Busrha Taria
I really appreciated your description of the series and the reasons you enjoyed reading it. And I thought your cover illustration was lovely. Just be a bit more careful with your spelling and punctuation next time for top marks!
Category 2
TELL US WHAT YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT THE BOOK OR WHAT YOU WOULD CHANGE
Winner
Ages 9-12



Name: Kavya Rai Agarwal
Entry: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
School: Centre Point School (WN) Nagpur
Country: India
Teacher: Ms Hashna Din
This is a nicely detailed review which shows you read the book attentively. You use some quite advanced words here and you use them all correctly. Anyone who hasn’t read this book will be able to grasp the storyline quickly by reading your review.
Runner-up
Ages 9-12



Name: Rong Gao
Entry: The Rainbow Machine by Roderick Hunt & Alex Brychta
School:
Country: Mainland China
Teacher:
This book seems to have fired up your imagination like the children helped fire up the Rainbow Machine! You described the story very clearly and this helped me immediately understand the plot from your review. I also very much like your alternative ending and your conclusions. Helping others is indeed a great virtue.
Category 3
WRITE A CRITICAL REVIEW OF AN OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS BOOK
Winner
Ages 13-15



Name: Tanisha Gupta
Entry: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
School: Centre Point School, Dabha
Country: India
Teacher: Ms Nikhat Khan
I enjoyed reading this. You’ve shown a good understanding of theme and character, and you have effectively conveyed your enjoyment of the story. I was impressed by your appreciation of theme and character and your personal identification with the book’s lessons shows real engagement with Defoe’s novel. Very well done!
Runner-up
Ages 13-15



Name: Chuanying Chen
Entry: The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
School:
Country: Mainland China
Teacher:
I enjoyed reading this. You’ve shown a good understanding of theme and character, and you have effectively conveyed your enjoyment of the story. I was impressed by your appreciation of theme and character and your personal identification with the book’s lessons shows real engagement with Defoe’s novel. Very well done!