Congratulations to recent OLA visitor Wayne Mills who has been awarded the Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education in the Queen's New Year Honours list 2011.
Wayne launched the Kids' Lit Quiz™ in New Zealand in 1991 concerned that his children’s school prize givings never included awards for keen readers. He wanted to make children who love books as highly valued as school sports stars in his sports-mad country, with national TV coverage, trophies and trips to compete in exciting venues to spur them on. The competition has been spreading around the world, is hugely popular in the UK and is launching in Canada in February.
The New Zealand Order of Merit, established in 1996, is awarded to those “who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and the nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions, or other merits”.
Wayne Mills is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland in the Faculty of Education. In March 2008 he was awarded the Margaret Mahy Medal in New Zealand for his substantial and distinguished contribution to both national and international literature and literacy.
