Win £1,000 / €1,000 for your school’s library
Help your school #rebuildthelibrary, plus win a £100/€120 National Book Token for yourself!
Five lucky schools from across the UK and Ireland will each win £1,000/€1,000, with one overall winner also receiving £500/€500 to upgrade their library space. Nominate a school to win one of our big prizes and encourage reading for pleasure all year round.
Did you know that 1 in 5 children don’t have a book at home?* In fact, 1 in 7 primary schools have no library space at all - that's more than 750,000 children. And where there is a library space, our friends at the charity Read for Good have found that this is often woefully inadequate, with books that are unappealing and outdated. Children facing poverty, who need these school libraries the most, are most likely to be missing out.
We're giving schools across the UK and Ireland the chance to win £1,000/€1,000 in National Book Tokens and a year’s free membership to the School Library Association; PLUS one overall winner will also receive £500/€500 to help them create a fun and welcoming library space for all.
Nominate a school using the form below, and if yours is one of the five winning entries, you’ll also win a £100/€120 National Book Token to spend in your favourite bookshop!
Winners will be drawn at random after Wednesday 31st July and announced in September 2024.
*1 in 5 children in England between the ages of 5 and 8. National Literacy Trust (2022).
“School budgets are increasingly tight and to complete the refresh we need to, we just don’t have the funds. To have the greatest impact our book stocks need a complete overhaul and to do this we need financial support.”
Teacher
Get more nominations for your school!
Download banners for your school or PTA newsletter and social channels, as well as posters to display in and around the school – plus share this page on social channels and in your school newsletter, to encourage other teachers and parents to nominate your school.
Download banners and posters“Through our work with primary and secondary schools across the UK we know just how desperate schools are for new books to inspire their students. Access to a diverse and vibrant school library enables children and young people to see themselves in stories, and learn about the lives of others. This campaign from National Book Tokens opens up a wonderful world of opportunity for schools and their students.”
Justine Daniels, Read for Good CEO
Read for Good and National Book Tokens have worked in partnership for many years, bringing the joy of being able to choose and keep a book to thousands of children.
- Thousands of schools run Readathon® because it's a proven, fun way to get pupils reading for pleasure. Money raised through Readathon supports Read for Good's hospital programme, bringing the magic of books and stories to children in hospitals across the UK.
- Explore the wonderful world of books through our Reading Journey posters – created to appeal to pupils who are not sure what they’d like to read
- Apply for one of Read for Good’s Brilliant Box of Books, helping schools and community settings in need get a boost of books!
- Get reading inspiration from their Books We Love page - ideal if you’re buying new books for your school.
- And for more reading resources go to readforgood.org and sign up to Read for Good's termly newsletter to find out about free author events, book giveaways and more!
National Book Tokens have inspired booklovers for more than 90 years, empowering readers to choose just the right books for them. National Book Tokens gift cards are accepted in hundreds of bookshops across the UK and Ireland, and online.
Available to purchase in bookshops, supermarkets, or online – including personalised and e-Gift cards, and Bookily – there are designs for booklovers of all ages and for all occasions. National Book Tokens gift cards are produced on FSC-certified card, have an expiry of 8 years from last use, and expired cards can be replaced.
Find out how National Book Tokens can be used to reward, inspire and incentivise children and students.
Our winning schools all started the new academic year in 2023 with a very welcome boost to their reading-for-pleasure budgets – and the parents, carers, teaching and school staff who nominated them enjoyed spending their own National Book Tokens in local bookshops!
- St John's and St Peter's Academy, Birmingham - nominated by Alethia. As our overall winner, the school also received £500 in cash to improve their reading and library spaces!
- North Huddersfield Trust School, Huddersfield - nominated by Sanna
- Scoil Bhríde Lann Léire, Co. Louth - nominated by Brenda
- Sporle C of E Primary Academy, Norfolk - nominated by Chloe
- Ysgol Ffordd Dyffryn, Llandudno - nominated by Camilla
In 2022, five more schools enjoyed an influx of new books for their libraries thanks to the parents, carers, teaching and school staff who voted in their thousands.
- Archbishop Temple Church of England High School, Lancashire - nominated by Lisa
- Batley Girls' High School, West Yorkshire - nominated by Maleeha
- Finn Valley College, Donegal - nominated by Martina
- Hanslope Primary School, Milton Keynes - nominated by Emma
- Star of the Sea RC Primary School, Tyne and Wear - nominated by Jill
Prizes:
Five winning schools will each receive:
- £1,000/€1,000 of National Book Tokens gift cards
- A one-year annual membership of the School Library Association
One of the above winning schools will be randomly picked to receive a £500/€500 cash prize
1 x £100/€120 National Book Tokens gift card will be awarded to each of the five entrants whose nominations are picked
- By entering this competition, you also agree to our website terms and conditions.
- No purchase necessary.
- Opening date: Tuesday 4th June 2024.
- Closing date: 11:59pm, Wednesday 31st July 2024.
- Only one entry per person will be accepted.
- Entrants must be aged 16 or over.
- Entrants may not win more than one prize, but multiple entrants may nominate the same school.
- For the purposes of this prize draw a 'school' is defined as any public sector or independent primary, post-primary, middle or secondary school, sixth form college, special school, or pupil referral unit, in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, and the Republic of Ireland.
- Early Years settings, including private nurseries and preschools, and home educators, are not eligible to win.
- The prizes are non-transferable and subject to availability, and there are no cash alternatives.
- The Promoter reserves the right to amend the specification of the prize or offer an alternative prize. In exceptional circumstances, the Promoter reserves the right to foreclose the competition without notice.
- The cost of one annual membership to the School Library Association (SLA) will be reimbursed to each winning school by Book Tokens Ltd. upon receipt of an invoice, which must be received within three months of the announcement of the winning schools. If a winning school is already a member of the SLA at the time the announcement is made, Book Tokens Ltd. will reimburse the school for the value of a year's membership upon receipt of an invoice within one month of the announcement.
- The overall prize of £500/€500 cash will be paid into the school's bank account or building society.
- The competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, and Republic of Ireland except employees of the Booksellers Association, Book Tokens Ltd., Read for Good, their families, employees of participating bookshops, and anyone else connected with this promotion.
- Entrants must be aged 16 or over.
- Entrants agree to the Promoter using their details in post-competition publicity. Your details will not be used for any other purpose, or passed onto any third parties, unless specified. Winners’ details may be shared securely with a third-party in order to fulfil the dispatch of competition prizes.
- We will contact winners by email. In the event of a winner not responding after 14 days, we reserve the right to allocate the prize to another winner, or foreclose the prize. Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted.
- We will contact the named entrant to confirm the name and address of the school to ensure it is correct.
- National Book Tokens gift cards can be spent at any participating bookshop.
- The Promoter accepts no responsibility for entries that are incomplete, illegible, incorrect, corrupted or fail to reach the Promoter by the closing date for any reason. Automatically generated entries or entries via third parties are invalid and shall not be considered.
- The Promoter’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
- The Promoter will only use your email address and other personal information as outlined in our privacy policy.
- Promoter: Book Tokens Ltd, 6 Bell Yard, London, WC2A 2JR.
