Picture This! Comic Book Comp

Art by Dean Rankine.

We want to see your comic books

Kids and teens – create your own comic stories and submit them to Your Library!

Entries open Thursday 12 January 2023 and close Friday 31 March 2023. No matter where you are from in Victoria, get creative and submit your entry!

Art supply prizes will be awarded to the winners.

Submission guidelines

Submissions invited from all children and teens, from foundation/prep to Year 12 (18 years old).

Comics must be limited to a maximum length of 6­­ pages.

Entries can be submitted digitally as PDF, JPEG, PNG, or on physical paper to be scanned in at the library.

Submissions must be the original work of the submitting author – no copyrighted material.

Open to all subjects and themes – though entries should be library appropriate.

Your Library reserves the right to reproduce your work.

One entry per participant.

Please don’t write your name on your comic – it will be included on the entry form.

How to enter

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Please note – Entries will not be accepted at our Community Reading Rooms.

Judging your entries

Entries will be judged on overall story, originality, creativity, and illustrations by a panel of library and comic book professionals.

Art supplies will be awarded to the winning entry in each of the following brackets. A set will also be awarded to the best local entry: a child that is a resident or goes to school within Yarra Ranges Council, Knox Council or Maroondah Council.

Brackets

  • Lower Primary: Prep/Foundation–Grade 4
  • Upper Primary: Grade 5-Grade 6
  • Lower Secondary: Year 7-Year 9
  • Upper Secondary: Year 10-Year 12.

Terms & conditions

The judges’ decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Entry is free and open to anyone under 18 or in or below Year 12 in 2023.

All entries must be the original, unpublished work of the entrant.

Entry into the competition confers permission to publish the entry if selected as a winner.

Submissions must not exceed 6 pages.

A selection of comics will be published by Your Library. This selection will be made by the judges, assisted by Your Library staff. No guarantee is made that any comics, including the winners, will be published.

Copyright will remain with the writer and is not taken over by Your Library.

What is happening at Your Library to help you create?

We made this

Dean Rankine is a Ledger and Stanley Award winning comic book artist, illustrator and writer best known for his work on Simpsons Comics, The Riverdale Diaries: Starring Veronica graphic novel (Archie Comics/Buzzpop) and as illustrator on the the Timmy the Ticked-Off Pony series – written by Magda Szubanski.

Dean is the illustrator on the Funny Thing Happened to Simon Sidebottom series and On The First Day of School (Scholastic), The Mad Scientist (Pearson), the Stuff Happens series, A Lot of Stuff Happens omnibus and Morris Gleitzman’s Extra Time and Help Around the House (Penguin Random House) Pac-Man : The First Animated TV Show Based Upon a Video Game (BearManor Media) and Superhero Therapy For Anxiety and Trauma (Jessica Kingsley Publishers). He also contributed illustrations to Bartman: The Superhero’s Handbook (Matt Groening Productions). 

Sabina Wills is the Team Leader at Healesville Library and writes comics in her spare time. She writes Bil+Bot comics for beginner readers and is excited to share her love of storytelling, drawing and being silly. She is inspired by the amazing creativity of the children who come to her workshops and the incredible comics they come up with.

Entries have now closed

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1000 Books Before School

Join the challenge and read 1000 books before the first day of school!

Reading together is the best way to encourage a love of books in your child. Reading daily helps children develop their vocabulary, understanding of themselves and others, and the skills they will need to be successful readers when they start school.

Your Library’s 1000 Books Before School program is all about encouraging reading in whatever way works best for your family. Whether it’s a book you’ve read together at home, a story from kinder, a library Storytime session, or your child’s dog-eared old favourite, log them all in your 1000 Books Before School reading record pack. You’ll also earn rewards at every step of your journey.

There is no fee to join. Simply complete the form below, collect your starter-pack, and start reading!

Why read 1000 books before school?

Early literacy skills are essential an building block for lifelong learning beyond primary and high school.

Research shows that reading with a child several times a week develops their literacy skills up to a year beyond their peers.

It’s easier than you might think to read 1000 books.

If you read three books a day, you can read more than 1000 books in a year. If you read just one book a day, you will finish in less than 3 years.

Repetition is great for developing early literacy skills, so if you read the same book more than once, you can count it each time you read.

Grandparent reading to young girl
Parent reading to baby

Every book counts

Every book that your child completes, or actively listens to, counts. This includes stories read at Storytime sessions, day-care and kindergarten, even the same book over and over again.

Reading or listening? Print or digital?

Borrowing physical books from your local library isn’t the only way Your Library can help you achieve 1000 books before school.

Audiobooks are a fantastic way to keep reading to kids. You can access more than 1,200 children’s audiobooks through our library catalogue.

On top of that, there are thousands and thousands of popular kids’ audiobooks available for free download at any time on the Libby app or BorrowBox app.

You can also watch hundreds of Australia’s favourite children’s book read just for you at Story Box Library. The stories are read by some of Australia’s favourite storytellers, including Justine Clarke, Nick Cave, Missy Higgins, Peter Hitchener, Andy Griffiths, Sally Rippin and many more.

How does it work?

Step 1: Join Online

Step 1: Fill out the form below.

Step 2: Collect Your Reading Pack

Step 2: Collect your reading record pack from your local library.

Step 3: Start reading

Step 3: Start reading! Any level, any format, any number of repeat reads.

Step 4: track progress

Step 4: Track your progress, achieve milestones, and collect rewards!

Fill out this form to start your 1000 Books journey!

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Keep up to date with the latest children’s news with this monthly newsletter. Events, resources, announcements, competitions and much more – sign up now!

Stories Beyond Stereotypes

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A booklist featuring real and imaginary characters who follow their own path, unconstrained by gender stereotypes.
Stories and books are a powerful learning tool for our children and stories that depict children participating in a wide range of positive and diverse activities expands their horizons of what is possible. The booklist has been collated to complement other books and traditional stories already available for our members.

Fairytales For Feisty Girls

Written by Susannah McFarlane

Just A Girl

Written by Jackie French

Doll Bones

Written by Holly Black

The Wolf Wilder

Written by Katherine Rundell

Song Of The Dolphin Boy

Written by Elizabeth Laird

George

Written by Alex Gino

Squishy Taylor (series)

Written by Alisa Wild

Billie B. Brown (series)

Written by Sally Rippin

Hey Jack! (series)

Written by Sally Rippin

Girl Geeks (series)

Written by Alex Miles

Polly & Buster (series)

Written by Sally Rippin

Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls

Written by Elene Favilli & Francesca Cavallo

The Good Guys

Written by Rob Kemp & Paul Blow

Download the Stories Beyond Stereotypes Poster here

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Keep up to date with the latest children’s news with this monthly newsletter. Events, resources, announcements, competitions and much more – sign up now!

Beyond Sparkles and Superheroes

Children receive messages about gender everyday through behaviours, images, written and spoken words at home, at school and in other settings. 
These picture books present child characters in a way that challenges gender stereotypes. They are just a sample of books available on the theme of gender equality or gender equity and have been chosen because they are both enjoyable stories to read with your child and because they represent a range of approaches to the topic of gender equity.
We hope you enjoy them.

Some Girls

Written by Nelly Thomas
Illustrated by Sarah Dunk

One Busy Day

Written by Lola M Schafer
Illustrated by Jessica Meserve

Some Boys

Written by Nelly Thomas
Illustrated by Sarah Dunk

Be Who You Are

Written and illustrated by
Todd Parr

ABC What Can He Be?

Written by Snap Studio
Illustrated by Jessie Ford

Tough Guys (Have Feelings Too)

Written and illustrated by
Keith Negley

Rosie Revere, Engineer

Written by Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by David Roberts

Two Mates

Written and illustrated by Maggie Prewett

ABC What Can She Be?

Written by Snap Studio
Illustrated by Jessie Ford

Made By Raffi

Written by Craig Pomranz
Illustrated by Margaret Chamberlain

Pearl Fairweather, Pirate Captain

Written by Jayneen Sanders
Illustrated by Lesley Danson

Bold Australian Girl

Written by Jess Black
Illustrated by Fern Martins

Sadie Sprocket Builds A Rocket

Written by Sue Fliess
Illustrated by Annabel Tempest

Ada Twist, Scientist

Written by Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by David Roberts

No Difference Between Us

Written by Jayneen Sanders
Illustrated by Amanda Gulliver

I Could Be, You Could Be

Written by Karen Owen
Illustrated by Barroux

Aaron Slater, Illustratore

Written by Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by David Roberts

Who Am I? I Am Me!

Written by Jayneen Sanders
Illustrated by Diane Ewen

How To Be A Lion

Written and illustrated by
Ed Vere

Girls Can Do Anything

Written by Caryl Hart
Illustrated by Ali Pye

Pink Is For Boys

Written by Robb Pearlman
Illustrated by Eda Kaban

Tricky's Bad Day

Written and illustrated by
Alison Lester

Boys Will Be...

Written and illustrated by Susann Hoffmann

Sofia Valdez, Future Prez

Written by Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by David Roberts

Girls Are Pretty...

Written and illustrated by Susann Hoffmann

Download the Beyond Sparkles And Superheroes Poster here

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Yarra Ranges Council
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Keep up to date with the latest children’s news with this monthly newsletter. Events, resources, announcements, competitions and much more – sign up now!

Storytimes

Regular storytimes will resume on Monday 15 April.

During school holidays, we run a range of other events for kids of all ages. Subscribe to our Children’s Newsletter to find out about upcoming kids’ events as soon as they’re announced.

Watch Storytime online!

You can always enjoy Storytime at home.

Catch up on heaps of great Storytime sessions and holiday craft activities on our YouTube Channel.

Watch stories come to life at home with Story Box Library. Enjoy books by Australia’s favourite authors read to you by Australian actors, authors, illustrators and comedians. There are hundreds of stories available (including many in Auslan), with new stories added every week.

Subscribe to our Children's Newsletter

Keep up to date with the latest children’s news with this monthly newsletter. Events, resources, announcements, competitions and much more – sign up now!

Kids

Featured For Kids

Online Storytimes
Be sure to follow our Facebook page here to access live storytimes! Times will be posted to let you know exactly when we will be live.

Kanopy Kids
Kanopy Kids highlights films and TV series that inspire and inform, helping children develop empathy, mindfulness, and self-esteem through entertaining and educational videos. Stream now!