Australian Book Week

NBC $5000 Awards for Australian Literature

The Awards were presented at a Dinner on Thursday October 12 to mark the opening of Australian Book Week. This year the Awards Dinner was held in Melbourne at the Dorchester, Henley Gardens, Alexandra Avenue and the Awards will be presented by the Hon Mr Justice M D Kirby, Chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission.

Book Week Poster

This year’s poster (see Page ? [sic]) was designed by Ann-Louise Gregory, a final year graphic design student at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Thousands of these posters have been distributed to selected libraries, school libraries and booksellers in all States of Australia for “Our Favourite Australian Books” Display Competition, but some limited supplies of the poster are available from NBC Committees at 10 Bank Street, West End, Brisbane, 70 Glenmore Road, Paddington, 71 Collins Street, Melbourne, 136 Rundle Mall, Adelaide, 102 Beaufort Street, Perth, and 91 Murray Street, Hobart.

“Our Favourite Australian Books” Display Competition

A total of $4,650 of prizes has been donated by Australian publishers. This is a new record and NBC is pleased to welcome Associated Book Publishers, The Grolier Society, Pitman Publishing, Nelson, Oxford University Press, Penguin Books and L & S Publishing Company, all of which firms are participating in the Competition for the first time.

Details of other events to be held during Australian Book Week had not been finalised when this column was being written, but anyone wishing to participate in Australian Book Week can obtain a copy of a Special Edition of the NEWSLETTER, (which will be issued about the middle of September) from NBC 71 Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000.

Book Post

Once again the Australian Postal Commission has rejected the National Book Council’s submission for a book post.

NBC wrote to the Managing Director, Mr A. F. Spratt, expressing alarm that from July 1 1978 the cost of posting books will rise by up to 27%, but the cost of posting Christmas cards will remain at fifteen cents.

When the Commission in 1976 rejected our case for the re-establishment of a book post, Mr Spratt said in his letter: ‘It would not be reasonable to offer concession rates for books and have to charge more for other postal services as a result’. However, no one has ever said how much extra the Commission is charging for other postal services as a result of the special concession for Christmas cards.

Mr Spratt now says that ‘there is. . .a certain amount of revenue derived from the response mail generated by Christmas mail which offsets the revenue provided by the concession rate’.

Subsequently a deputation of three (Mr Michael G Zifcak, Chairman, Mr Barrett Reid, Deputy Chairman, and myself) waited on the Minister for Post and Telecommunications and were given an opportunity to present several facets of our case for the re-introduction of a book post for Australia. The Minister certainly gave the deputation a fair hearing and expressed the opinion that we had a case well worth considering.

One of the worst aspects of the very steep increases affecting the cost of posting books is that the added burden always falls on the very people who most need help, that is people living at substantial distances from the source of all kinds of books.

That, as Mr Spratt has demonstrated, is of no concern to Australia Post, but NBC is not giving up.