2020 has been a very interesting year, a year of realisation that all things really were going to go virtual. The handing over of YABBA presidency was indeed challenging and the legacy David Linke leaves is huge. Throughout this year his tireless help and support has been greatly appreciated by me personally and for this I am very grateful.
This year the YABBA Team again delivered an incredible Virtual Author Program in partnership with the Department of Education and were the only Australian children’s choice group to run a LIVE Awards Ceremony. Our 35th Awards ceremony was phenomenal and with the support of Robyn Donoghue, Michelle Bentley and Adrian Beck I think we ran a very professional ceremony. The breakout rooms were fun, and the authors and illustrators were all very talented in managing the different platforms, spaces, and technology.
I am very aware of the legacy past presidents leave and hope that Graham Davey would have been proud to see what we delivered in this interesting year. The Council this year has been challenged to conduct all meetings via ZOOM and I am very impressed with the organisation Joy Burlak has demonstrated in her role as secretary. I am very thankful to Matthew Zbaracki who has taken on the role of treasurer. Thank you to the whole YABBA Council who work tirelessly as we continue to amplify children’s voice, choice, and agency across the Australian literature landscape.
Leading YABBA this year has indeed been an incredible workload, but an enormous reward to be able to remain relevant and offer programs virtually in a year where this was so needed. The YABBA VAPs were indeed ahead of their time. This whole program has been so much fun to work on and I encourage you to be involved in this in 2021.
I thank each YABBA Council member for stepping up this year. I am sure we are all looking forward to learning from this time of remote online learning and incorporating the positives into 2021. Thanks again for your support in my first year as President.
Truly humbled to lead this organisation,
Michelle Nye
YABBA President
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