Pearson Education

School

Pearson is the world's leading provider of technology, digital curriculum materials, assessment services and software to schools. Its mission is to help teachers teach and students learn. In 2006, Pearson School companies continued to demonstrate the effectiveness of their instructional programmes through independent research and innovation of curriculum offerings.

• Pearson Scott Foresman launched Reading Street, the first reading programme to be aligned with the US federal government's No Child Left Behind Act, incorporating a wide range of research-based learning strategies. Reading Street focuses on the priority skills that are proven to be indicators of reading success, such as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and text comprehension. Created by a nationally recognised panel of experts, practitioners and research, Reading Street is designed to help teachers build readers through a wealth of reliable teaching tools for instruction, pacing, assessments and grouping. It prioritises skill instruction at each grade level, so teachers can be assured they will focus on the right skill, at the right time, and for every student.
• Seventh-grade students using Prentice Hall Mathematics showed significant academic improvement, outperforming students using other maths programmes, according to an independent study conducted by research firm PRES Associates. The study showed greater improvement from pre- to post-tests than their counterparts using other programmes as measured by two different standardised assessments. Improvement was made on all mathematics objectives measured, and the programme proved to be especially effective with low-performing students. The study design was in compliance with the What Works Clearinghouse criteria to ensure the accuracy and fidelity of the outcomes.
• Researchers at the University of Colorado Institute of Cognitive Science evaluated Pearson Knowledge Technologies' Summary Street over the course of a five-year study funded by the Interagency Education Research Initiative, a collaborative effort sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Education and the National Institutes of Health. In the research, the automated tool measurably increased student's summarisation, general writing, and reading comprehension skills.
• Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics 2005 was selected to participate in the US Department of Education's Evaluation of Early Mathematics Curricula, a large-scale study created to evaluate the effectiveness of several maths programmes that show promise for improving maths achievement in the early elementary grades. To participate in the study, the curriculum had to demonstrate that it met rigorous criteria, including research support for the conceptual framework that underlies the curriculum, empirical support for the effectiveness of the curriculum, and objectives of the curriculum, including teacher practices and skills, quality of training and support, classroom activity materials and curriculum-specific assessments. The selected curricula will be implemented during the 2006/07 school year.
• Pearson Scott Foresman introduced a revolutionary new way to teach millions of California elementary school students social studies by blending printed text, digital, and activities-based instructional methods. Pearson Scott Foresman California History – Social Science is a standards-driven, interactive programme written specifically for California. The Digital Path, available in both English and Spanish, allows students to work directly with primary source documents and greatly expands the depth of the content coverage. Every state standard is a lesson in the programme so instruction is highly focused, efficient and productive. Pearson Scott Foresman California History – Social Science includes engaging introductions, videos to build background, audio-enabled student text, interactive practice and assessment.
• Pearson Education's PASeries (Progress Assessment Series) is the first formative assessment product line designed to forecast student growth toward state performance standards. PASeries Reading and PASeries Mathematics use the scientific Lexile scale for reading measurement and its new companion Quantile scale for mathematics to evaluate student progress. In the San Marcos, Texas, school district where it is being successfully used, the Lexile and Quantile measures give teachers and administrators hard data to make informed decisions about classroom instruction in a scientifically reliable way.

Higher Education

Pearson is the world's leading publisher of textbooks and electronic learning materials for college students in the US and around the world. Consistent with its goal of helping educational institutions to become more productive and college students to raise their educational achievement, Pearson has been a pioneer in the use of technology to support instruction and learning.

• Using Pearson's MyMathLab technology, the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, instituted the innovative approach to learning, nearly doubling success rates of students in mathematics courses from those reported in the Fall 1999, a success rate for women of 68%, compared to a success rate of 57% for men, and a marked improvement of Africa-American students over Caucasians by as much as 12% some semesters.
• A study of Pearson Allyn & Bacon's MyPsychLab conducted at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte tracked student grades over the course of eight terms, comparing student grades in sections using MyPsychLab to those without. Data showed a 21% increase in As and Bs for those using MyPsychLab, and a decrease in the drop failure rate from 27% to 17%. MyPsychLab enhances course delivery by actively engaging students in an experiential process of learning over the web, so they can learn at the time, in the place and according to the style and pace that best suit them.
• Pearson Education's MyEconLab – offered with many Addison-Wesley and Prentice Hall economics texts – is a rich set of course materials, adaptable instructor tools and an easy-to-navigate interface that promotes active learning. Studies of students show they were able to show grade improvement and better understand complex material using MyEconLab.
• Prentice Hall's Train and Assess IT (TAIT) was successfully used to improve the withdraw/fail rate for the introductory computer course at DeVry-Kansas City. Over the course of three years ending in 2005, the campus withdraw/fail rate dropped from 25%–30% to 13.64%, while the average grade point average of course students was significantly higher than that of students at other campuses. The school concluded that using the TAIT method of teaching the course reduced Kansas City's withdraw/fail by 12%–15%, and in the process discovered that individualised teaching was a far better and more successful way of teaching than the traditional protocol of teaching to everyone in class.

Community Programmes

• Pearson Education, in partnership with the Pearson Foundation and Project Exploration, a Chicago-based science education organisation co-founded by noted paleontologist Dr Paul Sereno, developed a fellowship programme for teachers in honour of the late Dr Neil Campbell, author of the bestselling Pearson Benjamin Cummings text Biology. The three-year, $75,000 grant is being used to fund the Project Exploration Summer Field Institute for Teachers as well as funding of some participants through the Neil Campbell Fellows programme.
• Pearson Prentice Hall, the market leader in advanced placement (AP) programme offerings, provided participants of the College Board's Advanced Placement Summer Institutes with complimentary AP texts and teacher support materials as part of their training workshops. Demand for advanced placement courses is increasing in the US, requiring more teachers to teach the courses, and Pearson is committed to help these teachers raise the academic bar.
• Working jointly with the National Middle School Association (NSMA), Pearson Prentice Hall sponsors the 'Teams That Make a Difference Award', which identifies individuals who work to improve the education and well being of adolescents. The award focuses on teams that created a programme activity or strategy to improve academic achievement or connect adolescents with their community. The four winning schools each received a $3,000 cash award from Pearson, among other recognition.

Awards

• The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) named four Pearson Education products as finalists in the prestigious 22nd Annual CODiE Awards – more nominations than any other education company. The products are: Pearson Assessments' Prosper (www.PearsonAssessments.com/Prosper); Pearson Knowledge Technologies' WriteToLearn (www.WriteToLearn.net); Pearson School Systems' Chancery SMS (www.PearsonSchoolSystems.com/products/chancery); and Pearson Scott Foresman's California History – Social Science Digital Path (www.ScottForesman.com/state/ca/science/sampler).
  
  The CODiE Awards celebrate outstanding achievement and vision in the software, digital information, and education technology industries. This year's finalists were chosen from more than 1,200 nominations submitted by more than 600 companies. Experts in the trade press, education, and other disciplines have reviewed all of the products entered.
• PASeries Algebra I received an Award of Excellence from Technology and Learning magazine, given to innovative applications that break new ground in some important way and best-of-breed examples that demonstrate clear superiority over similar products in the marketplace. PASeries Algebra I was developed for students in grades 6-12 and uses the Quantitle Framework for Mathematics to provide regular progress monitoring of student achievement and to forecast growth toward state performance standards or grade-level expectations.
• Primary Sources: Think Like a Historian, an educational CD-ROM programme for grades 4–6 from Pearson Scott Foresman and Colonial Williamsburg, won two prestigious industry awards: Technology and Learning magazine's Award of Excellence for demonstrating superiority over similar products and Learning's Teacher's Choice Award for instructional value, ease of use, innovation and relevance to curriculum. Designed to introduce students to the use of primary source documents, the interactive CD-ROM features a wide-range of materials from Colonial Williamsburg's collections, including artefacts, buildings, oral histories, prints and drawings, and written documents.

Pearson Education, UK

• Pearson Education has launched ActiveTeach – a series of digital teaching resources for secondary schools – in Maths, Science, IT and Business Studies. ActiveTeach is designed to help teachers deliver lessons to students of all attainment levels, particularly to those who may have some difficulty in accessing other materials.
• Longman Digitexts, winner of the prestigious 2005 BETT Award for Primary English, inspire all children to read on screen with great writing by authors such as Jeremy Strong and Angela Royston, brilliant multimedia and amazing interactivity. There are 12 Fiction and Non-Fiction Digitexts available for 7–11 year olds, covering a wide range of genres and text types. From the opening screens, children are drawn into the text reading for pleasure as well as reading to learn. An access version provided with every text helps lower-attaining readers to progress.
• In the UK, Pearson Education won the Diversity Employer of the Year award from the University of Westminster particularly due to the company's commitment to the Pearson Ethnic Minority Internship Programme.
• Pearson Education employees have given their support to the Magic Outcomes programme, part of Magic Breakfast, the educational charity set up by Pearson author, Carmel McConnell, with the aim of providing nutritious food to UK primary school children at risk of malnutrition. In 2006, Pearson Education employees helped in various projects at Kingsmead Primary School in Hackney, East London, including assisting with the development of a new environmentally friendly classroom, a reading project with the pupils, sourcing funding to equip a new IT suite and working on improvements to school dinners.

Edexcel

Our UK testing business Edexcel, is the UK's largest awarding body offering academic and vocational qualifications and testing to more than 25,000 schools, colleges, employers and other places of learning in the UK and across more than 100 countries worldwide. Edexcel marks and delivers more than nine million examination scripts each year.

• Edexcel's successful ResultsPlus programme puts personalised learning on the agenda for students and will enable schools and colleges to raise attainment. ResultsPlus provides question-by-question level detail about students' examination results through powerful, logical reports and graphics, giving an unprecedented level of information about performance and helping students to raise their attainment.
• In 2006 Edexcel began a three year sponsorship of the Helena Kennedy Foundation. An Edexcel Bursary is being set up with a £6,000pa donation given in lieu of sending out Christmas Cards. Edexcel was one of the founding partners of the Foundation which develops the vocational skills base of some of the most disadvantaged students in society. This support will enable BTEC students to complete their FE studies and hopefully progress on to the final year of a degree course.
• Edexcel acquired the Trident Trust in 2006. Trident is the UK's largest national provider of work experience for students aged 14–16 years, and successfully organises work experience placements and programmes in the UK for home and international students, working with 130,000 students from 2,000 schools and 90,000 companies to help young people to improve their employability and enterprise skills, and develop as individuals. For more information go to www.edexcel.org.uk

Financial Times Group

The Financial Times and its network of business publications and websites are a vital channel for helping to shape the debate on key international political, business and social issues. The FT Group also plays an important part in raising the profile of various causes and campaigning organisations. In 2006 the FT published special reports on Business & Aids, Investing in Young People, Responsible Business, Sustainable Business, Sustainable Banking and launched the Sustainable Banking Awards. 2007 will see the launch of the Environmental Awards.

• The FT is a key partner of the UK's Business in The Community, an organisation committed to promoting and advancing responsible business behaviour. The FT has used its publishing voice to bring their work to a wider audience, helping to put social responsibility on the mainstream business agenda.
• In 2006 the FT launched a seasonal appeal to raise money for Camfed (The Campaign for Female Education). FT readers raised over £500,000 for the charity that dedicates itself to fighting poverty and AIDS in rural communities in Africa by educating girls. The campaign was supported by articles in the newspaper reporting on the work Camfed is doing in Africa.
• Last year the FT was the major sponsor of the Southwark Theatres' Education Partnership (STEP). The FT was the chief donor to the charity as well as funding a 'drama champions' programme, a scheme where primary school teachers were given the opportunity to take part in a training programme to promote drama as an effective teaching and learning tool in schools.
• The FT is the media sponsor for the Employers' Forum on Disability's launch of the Disability Standard. The EFD is the UK's leading organisation for understanding and promoting disability in the workplace, working with employers to make sure that UK plc is accessible for people with a disability.
• The FT is the major sponsor of The European-Atlantic Movement (TEAM), a charity that aims to promote the understanding and discussion of European, transatlantic and world affairs to sixth formers and teachers in the UK. As a non-political organisation, the partnership fits well with the FT's independence as a newspaper.
• FTSE, a joint venture between Pearson and the London Stock Exchange, includes a series of 'socially responsible indices' alongside their financial products. The FTSE4Good Index series is designed for use by retail SRI fund products and for fulfilling institutional mandates. All licensing revenues from FTSE4Good indices are donated to UNICEF.
• The FT in the US and UK supports Operation Smile, a non-profit organisation providing free reconstructive surgery to children with facial deformities worldwide. In addition to cash contributions, the FT supports Operation Smile with free advertising in its worldwide editions. In 2006, the FT was awarded Operation Smile's 'Corporate Humanitarian Award'. In the summer of 2007, the Financial Times will be the official media sponsor of Operation Smile's National Cricket Tournament.
• In 2006 the FT in Asia supported Room to Read, which partners with local communities throughout the developing world to establish schools, libraries and other educational infrastructure. The FT organised a charity gala to help raise money for the scheme. More than HK$4.7m was raised, making it the most successful event in Room to Read's history.
• The FT in Asia in partnership with Caijing magazine, China's leading business journal, has been running journalism Masterclasses with Beijing University for five years. The aim of the programme is to bring international best practice to journalists in China. The course is sponsored by Standard Chartered and Laura Cha, formerly of the China Securities and Regulatory Committee, funds students to visit the FT offices in Hong Kong and London on short secondments. The programme has now been rolled out to students and alumni at Fudan School of Journalism in Shanghai, China (sponsored by Credit Suisse and CLSA) and at Hong Kong University School of Journalism (sponsored by the British Consulate) reaching a total of 100 students to date.

Penguin

Since Allen Lane founded Penguin in 1935, the company has championed free speech, never afraid to court controversy along the way. Here are some examples of the way Penguin continues this tradition of bravery, freedom of expression and a commitment to raising awareness of social issues in 2006.

Penguin Group (UK)

• Stop Climate Chaos: Penguin published I Count with Stop Climate Chaos, the umbrella organisation for over 30 UK charities concerned about climate change. These charities include the RSPB, Oxfam and the Women's Institute. SCC approached Penguin for help with the launch of their new campaign and within three months, the I Count step-by-step guide to climate bliss was available for sale. The book was published on 100% recycled paper and, for every copy sold, a royalty goes to SCC charities.
• Decibel Penguin Prize: in November 2006 Penguin published Volume 1: New Voices from a Diverse Culture, a collection of ten stories from some of the UK's brightest new literary stars, discovered through the Decibel Penguin Prize for new writers from African, Caribbean and Asian backgrounds. These exciting writers take us around the world in their stories: from a department store in Tokyo; to the pressures on a woman to bear a son in Nigeria; to Liverpool's Chinatown in the 1960s; to a lunatic asylum in London. These diverse British writers were selected by a panel of judges including Shami Chakrabarti, Hari Kunzru and June Sarpong. Minister for Culture David Lammy MP is the patron of the project.
• Rainforest: In 2006 Dorling Kindersley published Rainforest, a photographic book celebrating the fascinating behaviour and incredible variety of rainforest animals and plants. DK worked in partnership with the Rainforest Foundation to support their work to protect the rainforest and made a royalty donation for every copy sold. While Penguin's paper sourcing policy is already very rigorous, the book was published on specially sourced paper from certified sustainable European forests.
• Star Cooks: DK worked with food charity FareShare to publish Star Cooks, a celebrity children's cookbook. FareShare, who received a royalty donation, redistribute unwanted food from supermarkets and food manufacturers to community groups all over the UK, and work to avoid landfill and educate people about nutrition.
• World Book Day: Penguin and other publishers and book retailers throughout the UK and Ireland support World Book Day by donating funds, creating special £1 books, working with authors to attend events and bearing the cost of redemption of the World Book Day Book Tokens. Penguin makes a yearly contribution of £35,000 to World Book Day. In 2006 Here Comes Harry and His Bucketful of Dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds was Puffin's £1 title. DK sponsored the World Book Day poster and book design competition.
• Quick Reads: Penguin supports Quick Reads. Quick Reads was launched by Prime Minister Tony Blair on World Book Day 2006 to provide fast-paced, bite-sized books by bestselling writers for emergent readers, anyone who had lost the reading habit or simply wanted a short, fast read. It was a remarkable collaboration between authors, publishers, book retailers, libraries, the education sector, and other partners and supporters.
• Dahl Day: 13 September 2006 was Dahl Day, in celebration of what would have been the bestselling children's author Roald Dahl's 90th birthday. Puffin made free resources available via the Dahl Day website including activities, ideas, print material for readers all over the country to run their own Dahl event and promote reading for pleasure across the UK.
• Anne Frank: Penguin supports the Anne Frank Trust every year by producing flyers to promote their mobile Anne Frank exhibition which thousands of children across the UK access to learn about Anne's story and tackling prejudice. Penguin runs promotions about the exhibition through the Puffin Book Club and continues to support the Anne Frank Trust Moral Courage Award (the award is now called 'Frankly I Couldn't Ignore It'). The Anne Frank Awards recognise young people and educators who have shown great personal strength, moral courage, and determination to stand up for what is right.
• Teacher of the Year Award: DK sponsored the regional heats of Teacher of the Year Award, part of The Teaching Awards managed by The Teaching Awards Trust to celebrate excellence and promote best practice in education. DK donated books to all regional heat winners.
• Peter Rabbit Naturally Better: Frederick Warne, publishers of Beatrix Potter, is working with licensees to develop products and services to offer consumers and retailers better ethical choices. Themes covered include ethical, environmental, health and packaging issues, with the aim of developing products which are: better for the environment, better for mothers and children and better for the people who make them. The initiative is backed by a Corporate Social Responsibility Charter.
• Green Penguin: in 2006 Penguin announced a series of initiatives to give Penguin a greener hue. As part of an ongoing commitment to responsible paper sourcing, Penguin in the UK secured Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain of custody certification allowing its books to carry the FSC label. It is also active in environmental industry initiatives such as PREPS, the Publishers database for Responsible Environmental Paper Sourcing. A highlight of 2006 was Penguin's partnership with The Woodland Trust to develop the Penguin Wood at Botany Bay, a 96 acre site of more than 40,000 trees. Penguin employees also played their part working with London charity Thames 21 with their effort to clean up the River Thames. For more information go to: www.greenpenguin.co.uk

Penguin Group (USA)

In 2006, Penguin continued its active support of literacy, human rights and freedom of expression throughout the world with significant contributions to:

• PEN, the world's oldest human rights organsation and the oldest international literary organsation. The PEN American Center works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship.
• Literacy Partners, a not-for-profit organisation, providing free community-based adult and family literacy programmes to ensure that all adults have the access to quality education needed to fully realise their potential as individuals, parents, and citizens.
• The National Book Foundation, which recognises books of exceptional merit written by Americans, with unique outreach programmes featuring National Book Award authors, and communities participating in the writing life of the nation by reading and writing together.
• Poets & Writers, Inc., the nation's largest non-profit literary organisation serving poets, fiction writers, and creative non-fiction writers. It functions as a primary source of information, support, and guidance for creative writers.
• The Authors Guild, the nation's leading advocate for writers' interests in effective copyright protection, fair contracts and free expression.
• The National Book Festival, presented by the Library of Congress and Laura Bush, which emphasises the joy of reading and lifelong literacy and supports both with its national events and programmes.
• Hurston Wright Foundation, the nation's resource centre for writers, readers, and supporters of black literature, with programmes that preserve the legacy and ensure the future of black writers and the literature they produce.

Penguin continued to be a major supporter of Pearson's community partner Jumpstart in 2006, raising more than $111,000 at the annual Pearson Jumpstart Challenge benefit golf and tennis tournament, which featured book signings by John Berendt (author of the New York Times bestseller, The City of Falling Angels) and June Casagrande (author of Grammar Snobs Are Big Meanies).

Jumpstart's Read for the Record raised more than $1m, featuring a special custom edition of Penguin Young Readers Group's The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, illustrated by Loren Long (Philomel Books) and setting a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of children reading a single book on the same day.

Penguin Group (USA)'s commitment to diversity was recognised in 2006 with New York City's CityKids Foundation Partnership Award. Penguin has ongoing internship programmes with Inroads, City University of New York and Prep for Prep – resulting in the placement of interns from diverse backgrounds throughout the company. In 2006, our diversity policies were benchmarked against best practices through participation in surveys and studies by Diversity Inc., Catalyst and Working Mother Media.

Penguin Young Readers Group also made a number of significant book donations in 2006, including books for Broome County Department of Health (the county where Penguin's Kirkwood operations centre is located, with more than 1,000 assorted young readers' titles for children patients); Hawkwing (which assists a Native American reservation in South Dakota, www.hawkwing.org); the National Council of Jewish Women (distributed books to hospitals and agencies); and Friends of Karen (an organisation that assists terminally ill children, www.friendsofkaren.org/).

A number of Penguin Group (USA) authors are actively involved in raising awareness of regional and global issues, including:

• Paul Rusesabagina, in his Viking Penguin book, An Ordinary Man, describes his significant role in saving over 1,200 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. His Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation (www.hrrfoundation.org) provides support to children orphaned by the genocide, as well as to women who were abused during the genocide. Aside from providing financial, educational, health, and social support to those victims, the organisation also aims to assist other African nations in conflict. Its mission is to eliminate the conditions that lead to hatred and genocide. On November 9, 2006, Paul Rusesabagina was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin's Viking Penguin book, Three Cups of Tea, about a mountain climber who ended up building schools, which have helped educate over 24,000 kids, primarily for girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has raised awareness about the education of young people – and about finding ways to promote peace - in those countries. A former mountaineer and military veteran, Mortenson is the director of the non-profit Central Asia Institute and spends his time raising funds and awareness in building and establishing more schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• Hill Harper, author of Gotham's Letters to a Young Brother, runs a non-profit youth organsation, MANifest Your Destiny, which is dedicated to empowering, encouraging, and inspiring underserved males to succeed.
• Penguin Group (USA) has a growing green publishing programme covering issues from global warming to food sourcing. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, which spent 11 weeks on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list in 2006, is a good example of how Penguin authors are helping to shape national debate, in this case on American eating habits – even influencing food chain Whole Foods Market Inc. to commit $10m of their annual budget to support locally grown food. The book explores why we eat what we do and encourages us to eat with a fuller consciousness of our food choices and the health of the environment.
  
  In 2007 Viking (Penguin's young readers' imprint) will publish An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming by Al Gore, an adaptation of his powerful message for a generation which will have to confront the crisis of global warming.

Penguin Group (India)

An element of Penguin India's publishing programme aims to further the discussion and debate of key issues, ranging from human rights to environmental issues. Penguin India's social responsibility initiatives largely centre around one of the country's core issues – literacy.

• Since 2002 when Penguin launched Ladybird India Favourite Tales, 2.5% of all royalties from the sale of the books go to CRY (Child Rights & You) towards its literacy programme for under-privileged children.
• In 2006 Penguin India published A Poem for CRY, a collection of favourite poems chosen by more than 100 eminent Indians. Full royalties from the book go to CRY's educational and health programme in some of India's most deprived areas.
• Every year Penguin India donates books to help disadvantaged schools start up their own libraries.

Penguin Group (South Africa)

• Penguin South Africa is a proud sponsor of the Rally To Read project which provides books and trains teachers for some of South Africa's most disadvantaged remote, rural schools. Since 2001 Penguin has donated over R700,000 in cash and books. Each school is visited for three consecutive years, and progress and advancement are clearly visible in the second and third year of their cycle. The basic need for books and improvement of literacy levels is a high priority for South Africa so Penguin plans to be a proud sponsor of the project in the future.

Penguin Group (Australia)

• Penguin Australia is a long-time supporter of The Smith Family, a national enterprise committed to unlocking opportunities for families with financial difficulties. Penguin supports their Learning for Life Programme which helps disadvantaged children stay in school and reach their full potential – currently more than 22,000 students from primary to tertiary have been assisted through this programme.
• Penguin is a key supporter of literacy development in Australia and has lent its voice to the Indigenous Literacy Project. In some indigenous communities in Far North Queensland illiteracy rates are as high as 93%. In 2007, The Indigenous Literacy Project will become the core fundraising project for the Australian book industry, with consumer publishers, booksellers, libraries and schools all helping to raise funds to support literacy work in these communities.

Penguin Group (Canada)

• In Canada, in partnership with Canada's major bookstore chain, Penguin held an online auction of the first book off the press of Guy Gavriel Kay's Ysabel. Both Penguin and the retailer matched the winning bid for the autographed book, and the entire proceeds of the auction went to the Love of Reading fund, which supports high-needs elementary literacy programmes across the country.
• Penguin also supports Sketch Studio, a downtown working art studio for street youth. Penguin provided some of the youth with cameras and held a photo contest. The winner of the contest received the equivalent to a professional photographer's fee, and their photo will become the cover image on the new novel by Eric Walters: Sketches, which is loosely based on the studio. There will also be, in partnership with a major literary festival and arts centre, two Penguin-sponsored photographic exhibits containing many of the photos taken by the street youth.

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