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JADE ARNOLD: My name is Jade Arnold, and I have the phenomenal privilege of running the PRC, and I'm joined today by the amazing Australian author and illustrator Sami Bayly. Welcome, Sami, and thank you for joining us. How are you today?

SAMI BAYLY: I'm great. Thanks for having me today. It's going to be lots of fun.

JADE ARNOLD: Amazing. It's so lovely to have you with us. So, Sami, every year, hundreds of thousands of students all across NSW take part in the reading challenge. Last year, over 430,000 students from 2,800 schools participated. So, if you're one of the hundreds of thousands of students out there participating again this year, and whether it's your first year or your 10th participating, welcome to our digital launch.

Today, we're going to talk to you about why we hope you'll join us for another massive year of reading this year. We're also going to go over the rules to the PRC and show you how to log your reading on the student experience site.

The PRC is a reading challenge open to all students in NSW from Kindergarten to Year 10, and its aim is to encourage students to read for enjoyment. By participating in this challenge, we want you to set aside time to read, to read more than you would ordinarily, and to read different genres or different types of books that you might not otherwise read. Most importantly, we want you to enjoy the books that you read because that's what the PRC is all about.

COURTNEY: Reading for my own enjoyment, it kind of takes you into a new world. So, your imagination kind of grows to a new level.

JAKE: 'Cause I love to read. It passes the time.

COURTNEY: I think that now, with phones and stuff, it's very hard to have wild imaginations, and books can help it.

JOSI: I love it because it's almost-- it is as entertaining as a movie, and you can take a book anywhere, and it just kind of transports me to another world where I can just enjoy it.

CHARLIE: I wanted to take part in the PRC this year because me and my dad set a list of goals this year, and one of them was to read a lot of books. So, it aligns perfectly.

NATE: Well, when my teacher told me about it, that I can be part of this challenge, and I already read enough, so I decided, why not give it a go?

JOSI: Well, I love reading, and I love a challenge, and I thought it would be great motivation for me to pick up more books and just expand my little circle of literature.

ALYSSA: A few of my friends were doing it, and I wanted to try and read a bit more and get back into reading because I haven't read a lot the last few years.

JANENE ROSSER: Well, my first love is reading through being an English teacher. So, anything to do with reading, I'm excited about. I'm excited to see the library come to life, and the heart of the school is the library, and the learning culture of the school is represented through the library. So, to see us abuzz with enjoying reading and a bit of competition with the reading is exciting.

ELISABETH DUBOIS: The PRC is a great framework to get students to read more books more widely, especially from diverse authors, and that gets students to experience things from a different lens, and what it does do is create more empathetic readers.

JADE ARNOLD: If you're someone who already reads a lot, this probably sounds pretty easy to you. So, we hope that you'll take on the challenge of reading 20 or 30 books this year. But if you're someone who hasn't enjoyed reading in the past or hasn't for a little while, there are over 11,000 books on the PRC booklists to choose from, with a wide range of novels, graphic novels, verse novels, non-fiction titles and picture books for every Challenge level. So, there's a book out there for everyone.

We hope you can work with your teacher librarian, your friends, and your parents or carers to help you find books that you'll fall in love with as you work towards completing the Challenge.

Let's go through the rules of the PRC. Students need to complete their online student reading record by the closing date of the Challenge and have it validated by their school's PRC coordinator to receive a certificate.

The PRC opens at the end of February and closes in August. Please check the website for the exact dates and further details.

There are 5 different Challenge levels within the PRC, and the rules vary slightly for each Challenge level.

There's the K--2 Challenge, the 3--4 Challenge, the 5--6 Challenge, the 7--10 Challenge and the 3--10 Challenge which is for students with additional learning needs or disabilities.

If you are in Kindergarten to Year 2, you need to read 30 books in total. These books can be read to you by someone else. You can buddy read with another student, or you can read your books independently. All books that you read can be in English or in your home language. If you can read simple chapter books on your own, then you can attempt the 3--4 Challenge instead.

If you're in Year 3 to Year 10, you need to read 20 books in total. You must read the books on your own, but someone else can help you choose them. Personal Choice books can be read in your home language, but Challenge books need to be read in English. Books read since last year's Challenge closed can be added to your online reading log for this year.

There are 2 different types of books that you can read on the PRC: Challenge books and Personal Choice books. A Challenge book is a book on the PRC book, list for your Challenge levels. You can find books on the PRC booklists by searching the student experience site. Many school libraries and some public libraries also identify PRC Challenge books on their online catalogues and by placing stickers on the spines of a book.

If you're participating in the K--2 Challenge, you need to read a minimum of 20 Challenge books. If you're participating in any other Challenge level, you need to read a minimum of 10 PRC Challenge books from your Challenge level booklists.

If you're reading Challenge books from an approved PRC series, up to 5 books from this series can count towards your PRC Challenge books, and up to 10 more can be added as Personal Choice books.

A Personal Choice book is any book that is not on the PRC booklist or is on a booklist outside of your Challenge level.

All students on all Challenge levels can read and log up to 10 Personal Choice books. The remaining books must be from relevant PRC booklists. Before we go any further, let's look at the series rule. Let's say that you decided to read all 18 books in the 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' series this year, which is an approved series on the 5--6 booklist, and you wanted to add those to your online student reading record for the PRC. The first 5 books that you entered would appear as PRC Challenge books on your reading record.

The next 10 books will automatically be added as Personal Choice books, taking up all 10 choice spots on your reading record. You wouldn't be able to enter any other Personal Choice books on your reading record, including the remaining 3 books in the series. Series books can be added to your reading record in any order, and series that are 5 books or less do not trigger the series rule.

If you're having any issues finding books to read or logging your books on your online reading record, make sure you talk to your school's PRC coordinator for help. Every student who completes their online reading record and has it validated by their PRC coordinator will receive a certificate signed by the premier of NSW.

There are also 3 milestone awards that recognise ongoing reading: the gold certificate, the platinum certificate and the PRC Medal. Students receive a gold certificate after successfully completing the PRC 4 times and a platinum certificate after completing it 7 times. The years that you participate do not have to be consecutive. This means that you can earn a gold or a platinum certificate even if there are years that you haven't participated in the PRC.

The PRC Medal is the highest award a NSW student can receive for reading, and it is only awarded to students in Years 9 or 10. It recognises 7 years of independent completion of the PRC, and it is awarded to Year 9 students who have participated in the Challenge every year without missing a year from Year 3 to 9 inclusive, or to Year 10 students who have completed the PRC 7 times between Year 3 and Year 10, meaning that they have only missed completing the PRC once. Students can only receive a medal once, either in Year 9 or in Year 10.

Now that you're familiar with the rules of the PRC, it's important that you know how to add your books to your online student reading record. If you navigate to the PRC site via the student portal, it will take you straight to the student experience site.

But if you perform a Google search for the PRC website or if you type in the URL, it will take you to the main site first. Click on the banner image here, which will take you to the student experience site. Then click Log In in the top right corner and enter your Department of Education username and password. When logged in, an avatar will appear here.

The yellow search bar is designed to help you find books that you might like to read as part of the PRC. You can discover books by your Challenge level or by genre, and you can combine multiple options to create a targeted shortlist for you.

Scroll through the list to find books that you might be interested in. Click on a book to bring up a summary of the book to help you decide if you'd like to read it. You can add a book to your save list by clicking on the Bookmark icon. This will help you keep track of books that you would like to read, and you can then use your save list to help you find books in your library to read for the PRC.

The blue search bar is designed to help you check if a specific book is on a PRC booklist, and you can search by title, author, PRC ID, or the book's ISBN.

Once you have read a book, start building your online reading record by clicking the Add to Reading Log button. As you add books to your reading record, you'll level up, and your avatar will change to reflect your new level. To view your saved books, your reading log, or your Challenge history, click on the avatar in the top right corner.

Your PRC record saves all the books that you've saved for future reading, and you can add these to your reading record or remove them from your save list if needed. The second tab displays your reading log. You can continue to add Challenge books here by using this search bar.

If you've read a book that doesn't appear on the PRC booklists, add it here as a choice book by entering the book's title and author. Click on the third tab and then the hyperlink to view your Challenge history. If you've participated in the PRC in a previous year, but your record isn't showing, please speak to your PRC coordinator, as your record from a different school might need to be merged.

Your school's PRC coordinator might also help you with logging and ask you to record your reading on a paper log. So, make sure that you check with your teacher or your PRC coordinator about how they want you to record your reading.

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