What is Sögur “Stories”?

Sögur - the children's award festival is a collaboration project of Reykjavik City Library, KrakkaRÚV, Directorate of Education, Reykjavík UNESCO City of Literature, Reykjavik City Theater, Art for all , The Reykjavík School and Leisure Department and IBBY Iceland.

The mission of Sögur is two-fold, to encourage children to be creative and elevate their work, and then to give children a voice about what is being done in the field of children's culture.

Reykjavik City Library offers a variety of workshops the children are encouraged to create their own works that they can submit to Sögur competition. The competition is open from November 8th t o December the 3rd and children aged 6-12 can submit their work in four categories: short story, short film script, play script and song and lyrics.

In January the juries in each category choose which short stories, scripts and music will be further processed by professionals and awarded at Sögur - the children's award festival. The jury for short stories chooses 20 stories and the children get an opportunity to work on them with an editor. Directorate of Education publishes the short stories in a book, Risastórar smásögur (Giant Short Stories). The works of the children who get chosen in the category of short film scripts will have the opportunity to work with KrakkaRÚV on the production of the short film. The work of the children that get chosen in the drama category will have the opportunity to work with the drama school of Reykjavik City Theater on the staging of the play, and the work of the children that get chosen in the music and lyrics category will have the opportunity to work with a producer on the song. At the awards ceremony, professional musicians will perform the songs.

In February and March, children can vote for their favorite books in the Children's Book Awards in schools and libraries across the country. In April, Reykjavik City Library host a nomination event where it is announced which five Icelandic and five translated children's books the children chose as their favourites. At the event the voting for Sögur opens on KrakkaRÚV website where children vote in all categories for what they think stands out in the field of children's culture.

In beginning of June, the results from both the voting and the competitions will be announced at The Children Choice Awards that will be broadcast live on RÚV.

Children's Book Awards

The children can vote 1-3 of their favorite books published last year in Icelandic at the school- or public library or on the Reykjavik City Library's website. The Children's Book Awards is a part of Stories Children Choice Awards. The top 10 books that the children choose all around the country will be on the short list for Stories Children Choice Awards where the Children choose all the best in children's culture in Iceland. The voting for the Children Choice Awards open on KrakkaRÚV website in April and the Award Ceremony will be broadcasted live on RÚV in June.

For further information:
Ingibjörg Ösp Óttarsdóttir, project manager for children and youth
ingibjorg.osp.ottarsdottir@reykjavik.is | s . 411-6146