Students have been busy borrowing, reading and voting for the shortlisted books in the Hong Kong Golden Dragon Book Awards.

The Awards give students of all ages across Hong Kong the opportunity to vote for their favourite new books.

Books are nominated by schools across the territory. The award panel then selects the shortlisted titles based on broad appeal, subject matter, design and international representation.

Our school library has stocked the shortlisted titles in the Older Reader category (age 11-15 years), and the Mature Reader category (age 15-18 years).

Voting for the winning books is now underway and will remain open until the end of May. The winners for each category will be announced in June.

It’s wonderful to see so many students not only reading these books, but also talking about them, discussing them and recommending their favourite reads to others. We have also had teachers reading them after hearing about them from students in their classes.

Studies consistently show that not only does reading fiction books have a positive impact on school work, but that it is extremely beneficial for overall well-being.

At ICHK we recognise the need for students to have access to a broad and diverse range of books through our school library. We enable students to explore and learn which kind of books appeal to them so that they may then go on to become lifelong readers.