The HELL Reading Challenge

The New Zealand Book Awards Trust have teamed up again with HELL Pizza to encourage school-age children (years 1-8) to read more. Their reading programme runs through schools and libraries nationwide. Christchurch City Libraries will be offering this reading challenge reward system. 

What is the HELL Reading Challenge?

The HELL Reading Challenge rewards New Zealand children for reading books in an incentivised reading programme that's simple: Read for Pizza!

Children complete a 'pizza wheel' by reading seven books, and then go to any HELL Pizza store and redeem it for a free 333 HELL Pizza... It’s that easy! Every child/student must read 7 books to fill up their wheel to be able to receive their free pizza.

There is no limit on the number of wheels a child can fill up between March and December, provided they are stamped and authenticated by a librarian.

Pop into your local library to pick up a reading wheel. Get a slice of reading done and start getting your pizza wheel clicked. Then top off your reading with a pizza!

Rules

  • Every child/student must read 7 books to fill up their wheel so that they are able to receive their free 333 kids’ pizza from their local HELL store.
  • There is no limit on the number of pizza wheels a student can fill up, provided the wheels are stamped and authenticated by a school teacher or librarian. But only one wheel can be redeemed per child per visit.
  • The child/student must redeem their pizza wheels IN PERSON and before the expiry date, which is Friday 31 January 2025. Each wheel will feature detailed rules and regulations, as well as a serial number and QR code that will be traced back to your school/library. We do this to ensure a high standard of conduct. It’s our honour code.

Find out more

Explore our page for kids for great reading ideas.

About the New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults

The New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults are a unique celebration of the contribution New Zealand’s children’s authors and illustrators make to building national identity and cultural heritage.

Awards in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are made in six categories: Young Adult Fiction, Junior Fiction (the Esther Glen Award), Non-Fiction (the Elsie Locke Award), Picture Book, Illustration (the Russell Clark Award) and Te Kura Pounamu Award (for books entirely written in te reo Māori).

Five finalists are selected for each category, and from these a category winner is selected. All awards carry prize money of $7,500. In addition, the judges may decide to award a best first book prize of $2,000 to a previously unpublished author or illustrator. The overall prize, the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award, carries a prize of $7,500. The awards are judged by a panel of five. Te Kura Pounamu is judged by a separate panel of judges. A shortlist is announced in June each year, and the awards event is held in August of the same year.

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