Five schools won £1,000/€1,000 to rebuild their libraries this autumn
Find out which lucky schools won our big prize draw!
This summer, we gave you the chance to nominate your school to win £1,000/€1,000 in National Book Tokens. Thousands of parents, carers, teachers and school staff across the UK and Ireland voted. Now it's time to meet the winning schools!
Congratulations to our winners... and thank you to everyone who voted!
We gave schools across the UK and Ireland the chance to win £1,000/€1,000 in National Book Tokens and £300/€300 towards improving their library space, so they could encourage reading for pleasure for all their students.
Congratulations to our five winners: Dundonald Primary School (Belfast), Meols Cop High School (Merseyside), St Luke's School (Hertfordshire), St Mary's C of E Primary School (Cornwall) and Ysgol Llywelyn (Denbighshire). Find out more about the winning schools below!
The winning entrants, whose nominations secured the lucky prizes for their chosen schools, each received a £100/€120 National Book Token to spend in their favourite bookshop.
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at the charity Read for Good have found that this is often woefully inadequate, with books that are unappealing and outdated.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 were proud to bring this prize draw to you for the fourth year in association with Read for Good, offering schools across the UK and Ireland the chance to rebuild their libraries.
*1 in 5 children in England between the ages of 5 and 8. National Literacy Trust (2022).
Meet the winning schools
Dundonald Primary School, Belfast
"We are absolutely overjoyed to be a lucky winner of the #rebuildthelibrary competition. We have recently just worked very hard to update and open our brand new school library. With this wonderful prize we are really looking forward to filling it with new books that cater for all ages and abilities, promoting reading for pleasure and foster a love for reading amongst our pupils. Thank you so much!"
Tim Bell, Literacy Co-Ordinator
Meols Cop High School, Merseyside
"A huge thank you to National Book Tokens for this incredible prize! We've recently relaunched our school library, and these generous gift cards will allow us to provide our students with the much-needed resources they've been wishing for. Their excitement has been growing as they've been sending in requests for a library wish list – and now, thanks to your support, those wishes are coming true."
Sarah Horsfall and Sam Newell, Library Leads
St Luke's School, Hertfordshire
"Thank you so much to National Book Tokens for such an amazing prize! It means so much to us as an SEND school. We can provide an exciting array of specialised books tailored to our students which will benefit and support the school as a whole for many years to come."
Lisa Paterson
St Mary's C of E Primary School, Cornwall
"This incredible prize will allow us to spark imagination and adventure for our children, turning our library into a vibrant destination where curiosity thrives and every visit inspires a love of reading and discovery. One of our librarians, Lowenna, said 'Books make me feel special. It is a privilege to be able to read lots of books. I think every child deserves to be able to read a book.' We are looking forward to sharing our purchases with our whole school community, and will be inviting parents and carers to join us in celebrating an exciting new chapter for our library."
Laura Calcraft, School Administration Manager and Clerk to the Governors
Ysgol Llywelyn, Denbighshire
"We are incredibly grateful to National Book Tokens for their generous donation of £1,000 in gift cards and £300. We will be using this to support the redevelopment of our school library. Your support will help us to continue inspiring a love of reading and learning in our school and wider community – on behalf of all of our pupils, families and staff we would like to say a massive thank you for helping us to make a positive impact in our school."
Stuart Jones, Deputy Headteacher
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 email updates 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.
2024
- Baldragon Academy, Dundee
- Astrea Academy, Doncaster
- Gaelscoil Chnoc Liamhna, Dublin
- Kingsbury Green Academy, Wiltshire
- Malmesbury Primary School, Tower Hamlets
2023
- St John's and St Peter's Academy, Birmingham
- North Huddersfield Trust School, Huddersfield
- Scoil Bhríde Lann Léire, Co. Louth
- Sporle C of E Primary Academy, Norfolk
- Ysgol Ffordd Dyffryn, Llandudno
2022
- Archbishop Temple Church of England High School, Lancashire
- Batley Girls' High School, West Yorkshire
- Finn Valley College, Donegal
- Hanslope Primary School, Milton Keynes
- Star of the Sea RC Primary School, Tyne and Wear
