The new role of Te Awhi Rito New Zealand Reading Ambassador for children and young people was announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in August 2020.

Te Awhi Rito New Zealand Reading Ambassador champions the importance of reading in the lives of young New Zealanders, their whänau, and communities. They are a national reading role model, building visibility and awareness of reading across all sectors in Aotearoa New Zealand and helping to create a nation of readers.

The name Te Awhi Rito comes from the harakeke or flax plant. The 'rito' is the young shoot at the centre of the plant and ‘Awhi Rito’ are the strong mature leaves that stand straight and tall to surround, protect and nurture the Rito. Outside Te Awhi Rito are the 'Tupuna' or older leaves that bend towards the ground, supporting the entire harakeke bush and eventually becoming part of the fertile ground beneath. The harakeke is sometimes used as a metaphor for the generations in a family with te Awhi Rito as parents, connecting the young people or rito in the centre of the bush to their grandparents or tūpuna.

Te Awhi Rito is not a direct translation for Reading Ambassador but represents this role in nurturing and inspiring the rito who are the young readers and new readers. The tūpuna represent the many organisations, authors, teachers, libraries and other advocates for reading in Aotearoa New Zealand

Over time, each Te Awhi Rito New Zealand Reading Ambassador will add their mana and mahi to strengthen the whole harakeke or He Pā Rito.

The Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador initiative is led by the National Library in collaboration with founding partners Te Puna Foundation, Creative New Zealand, Storylines and Te Pou Muramura Read NZ. Funding for the role has been provided by Te Puna Foundation for the first three years, though it is anticipated that this will be an enduring programme.

The inaugural Te Awhi Rito New Zealand Reading Ambassador will be appointed part time for two years. The details of the programme they will undertake will be determined by the strengths and interests of Te Awhi Rito, working with the partner group, which will provide support to the successful appointee.

Appointment to the position is by nomination. Each person can nominate up to three people for the role, using separate nomination forms; a person can be nominated multiple times by different people but only one nomination is required to be eligible. Criteria for selection are outlined on the Te Awhi Rito web page. A selection panel of up to eight people, including representatives of the founding partner group, will make the final decision.

More detail is on the web page, which links to the online nomination form. The person nominating someone for the role completes the nomination form. Before they do this, they must check with the person to make sure they agree to be nominated, and check that they would be available to take up the role.

The establishment of a high-profile national voice for reading and literacy is something Storylines has worked for and dreamed of for many years. We are delighted to be working with National Library, Te Puna Foundation, Creative New Zealand and Te Pou Muramura Read NZ to bring the dream to reality in 2021.

Lorraine Orman, winner of the 2020 Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award for services to New Zealand children's literature, presented her lecture and received her award on 29th November as a function that also featured the presentation of 2020 Storylines Notable Book Awards, and the belated presentation of the 2020 Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal to Maria Gill.
The event was held at the University of Auckland's Faculty of Education in Epsom and was a welcome return to face to face gatherings for those who attended.

Read more about Lorraine here.
 

Peter Gilderdale, representing the Gilderdale family, with Lorraine Orman after the presentation of her lecture Story and Serendipity.

New name for Storylines Children's Literature Foundation