National Magazines Day, intended to promote the joy of reading to children, takes place on 14 October. The initiative is being led by magazine publisher Immediate with support of our other magazine publishers. Others are being invited to join.
A number of charities that promote reading and literacy among those families and communities that have least access to reading resources. The aim is to get more than 60,000 magazines from Immediate, Egmont, DC Thompson and Future into the hands of these youngsters. These will be distributed through schools or in some cases food banks.
The idea is to help children and families choose reading for pleasure rather than picking up a screen. A recent study by the National Literacy Trust among 8-18 years has shown a slight increase in reading enjoyment, following four years of decline, but reading for enjoyment remains very low. The study also showed that poorer families, on some kind of government support, are significantly less likely to have books or magazines at home. There are strong links between education attainment and future life chances.
The printed magazine is the ideal low barrier entry into a return to reading. Professor of developmental psychology at the University of Sussex Robin Banerjee explains: “Our UKRI research has shown that reading plays a key role in building empathy in children, which in turn is associated with greater engagement in reading for pleasure as well as greater prosociality.
“In our latest study with 8- to 10-year-olds, we found that a significant proportion of children were reading magazines at least on occasion. This is just one part of the ‘literacy menu’ that can foster a culture of reading among children, drawing them in with the content that they find most fun and engaging.”
A competition for parents and carers kicked off on 1 July and runs to 1 September. Twenty schools will receive bundles of children’s magazines for their schools by responding to one simple question. The magazines will arrive in time for 14 October. One school gains £1,000 to spend on books, magazines or other items for the school library.
The families of those winning entries will receive a £100 Amazon voucher.
The organisers point out that magazines offer “a uniquely engaging entry point” for children as they are both fun and less intimidating than books.
Immediate CEO Sean Cornwell says: “At the heart of this campaign is a simple aim: to help children discover the joy of reading. Magazines offer a uniquely engaging entry point for young readers, especially powerful for reluctant or less confident readers. It’s fantastic to work on such an important project with our partners from across the industry to demonstrate the impact we can have when publishers, partners and charities work together to help inspire more children to enjoy reading.”
