In 2024, our Hong Kong team proudly received the Caring Company award for the eighth year in a row, recognizing our ongoing commitment to supporting our communities. We continue to expand our outreach, partnering with more organizations to serve the local community.听

In December 2023, we donated 3,000 children’s readers to Ronald McDonald House Charities Hong Kong, supporting their annual fundraising event鈥攖he 鈥楻ead for Love鈥� Reading Program. This initiative aims to cultivate good reading habits among students and inspire the next generation. Over 2,400 students from schools across Hong Kong participated in the four-to-eight-week reading programme, raising substantial funds for unwell children.听

Nancy Yip, the Managing Director of 糖心VLOG Press in Hong Kong, shared: 鈥榃ith roots in Hong Kong for 65 years, OUP is committed to publishing high-quality books and resources to promote a reading culture. We operate in a manner which is ethical and socially responsible. We firmly believe that while spreading knowledge and promoting learning, we should also connect with the community and build a better society through books.鈥�听

We are continuing to expand our outreach, collaborating with more organizations to serve the local community. This year, we have built new partnerships in Hong Kong with two local non-profit organizations: Changing Young Lives Foundation and The Hub Hong Kong, to support children from disadvantaged backgrounds.听

Changing Young Lives Foundation provides free educational and holistic development resources to children in need, offering them an opportunity to change their lives. As we share the same vision in education, we donated books to the foundation for the library corner in their new community centre, allowing hundreds of children from nearby neighbourhoods to enjoy reading every day. Our colleagues also volunteered for a storytelling session at the centre in August, teaching children English and engaging them in craft activities.听

Additionally, we donated 200 packs of books to The Hub Hong Kong, which provides opportunities to disadvantaged children through providing the tools and supportive environment for development. Over a hundred beneficiaries received the books for their summer holiday, enriching their learning experiences.听

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Colleagues from our team in South Africa joined people worldwide in giving back to their communities on Mandela Day.

On 18 July each year, people dedicate 67 minutes of their time towards serving their communities on what has become widely known as Mandela Day. Observed on Nelson Mandela’s birthday, these 67 minutes of service symbolize the 67 years the former President spent fighting for equality and human rights for all South African citizens. This time spent in service of their communities allows people to reflect on Mandela’s words: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

This year, our team marked the day by visiting St. George’s Home for Girls in Wynberg to extend a helping hand to the children under the home’s care.

St. George’s Home for Girls is a registered Child and Youth Care Centre. For the past 162 years, it has been a place where girls can feel safe and supported as they grow. It is currently the only residential care facility in the Wynberg District which provides for girls between the ages of three and 18 who have been abused, abandoned, neglected, or orphaned. The home strives to nurture the children by providing a warm, loving, and caring environment.

Karen Simpson, Managing Director of OUP Southern Africa, expressed her pride in our ongoing celebration of Mandela Day. “By answering Madiba’s call to create a positive impact in our community, we humbly and gratefully assisted the dedicated staff and children at St. George’s Home for Girls. Thanks also to our staff for their continued generosity with their time and personal donations.”

Our colleagues helped to put together party packs containing snacks, stationary kits, hand care kits, a story book, and a colouring book. These party packs, along with cupcakes, were gifted to the home. Colleagues also helped to clean the indoor premises鈥攊ncluding vacuuming rooms that had been damaged by flooding鈥攁nd donated preloved clothing and perishable food items. OUP donated a new washing machine to replace the broken one at the home.

Jarita Raga, Marketing Content Specialist, said: “It was great to hear Bonita, the secretary at St. George’s Home, express her gratitude for our contributions. It was also heart-warming to see first-hand the impact of the new washing machine, along with the food and cleaning supplies we provided.”

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Volunteers of America鈥揋reater New York runs a community service campaign called Operation Backpack in response to the recent rise in family homelessness in New York which has created a greater demand for school supplies.

Operation Backpack provides essential educational resources to children experiencing homelessness. These resources play a critical role in ensuring higher rates of homework completion, class participation, and ultimately graduation.

For the last fourteen years, 糖心VLOG Press and colleagues from around the Press have supported Operation Backpack鈥檚 mission by volunteering, providing school supplies, and donating varying monetary contributions.

Last year, colleagues donated over $3,000 through individual donations, while the Press made an overall donation of $7,000. These donations support shelters and schools to improve the lives of so many children.

Homelessness can significantly disrupt a child鈥檚 education, potentially having a devastating impact on their future. By providing backpacks and school supplies, Operation Backpack helps set these children up for success in the classroom and beyond.

Learn more about .

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In the 2023/24 financial year, we donated over 215,000 books to Book Aid International, supporting them in sending 1.2 million books to 164 partners in 22 countries worldwide鈥攔eaching even the most remote places, sharing the power of books with millions of people who would otherwise have no or very little access to books.

Mustafe from Somalia runs a unique library for remote communities, where every book is transported by camel. Many users of the camel library are pastoralists who move frequently to graze their cattle. The camel library’s ability to reach places inaccessible even to vehicles is crucial in ensuring everyone who desires can access books. This initiative provides access to knowledge and education, which can make a difference in their lives.

Donations to Book Aid International facilitate educational and enrichment opportunities across thousands of schools, libraries, universities, refugee camps, prisons, and hospitals. Last year, donations supported Book Aid in several key initiatives such as:

• Launching the ambitious , aimed at helping children and young people in Africa realize their potential through the power of books
• Expanding efforts in Liberia to create new school and community libraries after decades of war and an Ebola outbreak
• Continuing projects to establish school libraries in refugee settlements in Uganda
• Supporting partner initiatives like the camel and mountain bike libraries, which bring books to remote communities in Somaliland and Uganda
• Sending over 25,000 books to help restock libraries damaged by the war in Ukraine.

Book Aid International shares the power of books and helps create a more equal world where everyone has access to books that will enrich and improve their lives.

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World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is a double celebration for OUP this year.

We鈥檙e delighted that OUP book is one of this year鈥檚 special 拢1 books. We鈥檝e also published our analysis of language based on 44,000 children鈥檚 stories submitted to this year鈥檚 BBC 500 Words competition, ahead of the results announcement on World Book Day.

Join Marv鈥檚 special adventure

Want to join in this five action-packed mini tales as Marv embarks on his latest adventures?

Hear from his trusted robot sidekick Pixel, learn that even super-villains have moments of selflessness, and hear Marv鈥檚 own super-powered advice on being kind.

World Book Day works with publishers to create a list of books to appeal to a wide range of children at all ages, interests, and stages of reading. Children and young people in the UK have access to a which they can use on any of the chosen World Book Day titles.

鈥� by Alex Falase-Koya and illustrated by Paula Bowles is available for just 拢1.

Exploring children’s own adventures

We鈥檝e also revealed our exploring the language in the stories submitted in this year鈥檚 competition 鈥� the UK鈥檚 largest children鈥檚 story writing competition for ages 5-11, led by the BBC.

OUP is a partner of the competition and as part of our ongoing research, our Children鈥檚 language experts analysed the creative writing to see how children are using language in new and unusual ways to communicate, particularly in comparison to the previous competition in 2020.

For example, use of the word AI has surged four-fold since 2020 with mentions of AI in 2023 often associated with a dangerous entity.

“The thick black, dense sky engulfed the cities, whilst the yellow grass lining the Earth was dry as skeletons鈥� bones. Grey murky water passed through the rivers. This was all because of AI. You would have thought humans would be top of the food chain, however, this was not so: a manufactured object had taken over.” (A NEW DAWN, girl, age 9)

Lioness was used over a third more than in 2020. Whilst almost all instances of Lioness(es) in 2020 were references to the animal, over half of the mentions in 2023 were in reference to football.

“I grew up and got better and better at football and now 滨鈥檓 a lioness. Never give up.” (THE LIONESS LEGEND, girl, age 10)

Children were also more likely to write about neurodiversity in their stories in 2023. The words autistic, autism, and ADHD all occurred more frequently, and children often described them as a superpower.听

“Having ADHD and autism is pretty cool because it makes me different and if we were all the same the world would be a pretty boring place.” (UNIQUE ME, boy, age 10)听

50 lucky finalists were invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by Her Majesty the Queen. Find out the winners on Thursday 7 March in a on Thursday at 7pm UK time on BBC One and available on iPlayer after broadcast.

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At the end of its first year, 3,000 children from ten primary schools are now benefitting from an up-to-date dedicated library with over 5,000 books donated and specialist training delivered to support 22 teachers on how to develop effective whole-school literacy strategies. 听

As we head into the second year, three teachers from schools in the first cohort reflect on the difference it has made on their schools.

“Our Children are now excited about reading”

Above all, Raise a Reader is about developing a love of reading. Paul Waite, Assistant Head Teacher at Bayer’s Hill Primary School in Oxford explains the impact the programme has had:

“I can鈥檛 praise the scheme enough. We鈥檙e seeing more and more children enjoying reading for pleasure, a crucial part of the jigsaw, as they read more and more widely.

Our children are so excited now about the library and about reading in general.It is amazing [鈥 Honestly, it’s one of the best things that I feel that I’ve achieved in a school – it’s been a fantastic鈥痡ourney that we have been on, and I feel very privileged to have been involved. I can’t praise it enough. It’s wonderful.

In an Ofsted inspection last year, the school went from 鈥楻equires Improvement鈥� to 鈥楪ood鈥� and our reading for pleasure strategy has been instrumental in helping to achieve our new rating.”

“We needed something to happen”

OUP didn鈥檛 just donate a diverse range of books for these libraries; our volunteers went into the school to help create spaces that everyone in school would love to use. One teacher at Dashwood Academy in Banbury said:

“Whilst pupils did enjoy reading to some extent, the choice of books they had was quite limited and we needed something to happen.

Thanks to the Raise a Reader project our library really offers that initial听‘wow’ as it is the first thing visitors see when they walk into the school. It is literally the very heart of the school for the children who are excited to have this opportunity.听听

They鈥檝e got something they can take and enjoy, and it has really opened up the world of reading for pupils.”

Engaging learners with their library

Each school was able to come into OUP鈥檚 Oxford office for a day dedicated to training on how to make the most of the library.

For one teacher from John Henry Newman school, this time was invaluable:

“The biggest thing I took away from the training was how to engage people in the library once we have it.

We are drip feeding all the little tips to keep the library exciting, fresh, and new, so it鈥檚 not just a space that is the same every time the children go.”

Since then, the library has become a part of each class鈥檚 weekly timetable, with the whole school sharing a book of the week.听

We鈥檙e looking forward to helping raise readers in another ten schools spread across East Oxford, Banbury, and Witney who will be taking place in the programme this year.听

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We are proud to have supported with their donation of 25,000 brand-new books to libraries across Ukraine, as part of PEN Ukraine鈥檚 鈥樷�� project.

Since Russia鈥檚 invasion in February 2022, Ukraine鈥檚 library network has suffered systematic heavy bombardments. Tetyana Teren, Executive Director of PEN Ukraine, says that “libraries have lost over 187 million books. But even in such circumstances, society demonstrates unity and resilience.”

Working with our longstanding charity partner Book Aid International, we have provided a financial donation to support the shipment of the books, which was dispatched from London on 7 November. All of the books have been donated by leading UK publishers and selected to provide opportunities to learn English, read for pleasure, and find respite in libraries.

Commenting on the donation, our CEO Nigel Portwood said:

鈥淲e are proud to support Book Aid International, sharing the belief that books have the power to transform people鈥檚 lives and unlock opportunities. Having seen the impact of Book Aid International鈥檚 work over many years now, we know that this initiative with PEN Ukraine will make a real difference to those who have faced immeasurable challenges as a result of the war.鈥�

The shipment is due to reach Kyiv later in November. From there, will distribute books to libraries across Ukraine, including to frontline and liberated territories.

Book Aid International鈥檚 Chief Executive Alison Tweed said of the donation:

鈥淔or people living with the war in Ukraine we know that libraries have become places of safety and refuge for communities, as well as havens where reading and learning can continue. I would like to warmly thank Hachette UK, OUP, and other publishers who have supported this shipment and all the publishers who donate books to support all the work we do.鈥�

Tetyana Teren spoke more on the ‘Unbreakable Libraries’ initiative:

鈥淥ur joint initiative together with Book Aid International, PEN International, English PEN and leading publishing houses received a big response in Ukraine. Just in the first days after the project announcement, over 300 libraries from different parts of Ukraine sent us book requests. It emphasizes the importance of the project for the entire country. And I want to thank everyone who makes this initiative possible.鈥�

At OUP, we are committed to supporting our communities around the world in many ways, and an integral part of this work is donating to charities and educational initiatives in line with our mission. You can read more about our responsible activities in our most recent .

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