Young People's Book Awards

The Inkys 

Analyse and evaluate a website designed for young people

A review of the "Inside a Dog" youth literature awards webpages "The Inkys"

Inside a Dog (http://www.insideadog.com.au/) is a teen literature website organised through the State Library of Victoria (SLV) as a project of its Centre for Youth Literature (http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/learn/centre-youth-literature). The title of the website “inside a dog” comes from a typically sardonic Groucho Marx quote

“Outside of a dog a book is a man’s best friend.

Inside a dog it’s too dark to read.”

The “Inside a Dog” (IAD) website has many features including Books, News, Forum and Book Club. The Section I will be reviewing is the Inkys. When you click on the Inky Award tab there is a very short introduction to the Inkys and a calendar of important dates as well as a congratulatory section for the 2012 winners:

Shift by Em Bailey (2012 Gold Inky)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012 Silver Inky)

The colour scheme for the page is same for the entire IAD website - black, orange and white and of course Inky the dog appears everywhere. This colour combination could be considered somewhat garish by adult standards but from talking informally with young adults the pages were considered “a little bit in your face” and “attention grabbing” and “bright”. The content was “easy to read” in that the words didn't get lost in the background and the font was clear and sized appropriately. The language used was straightforward and there was no information overload located anywhere on the site. The right-hand side of the introductory page has links to past winners and the longlists and shortlists from which these winners were chosen going back to the inaugural year of the awards in 2007. Other links are available on the Introduction page are:

• Inky - who is Inky?
• Call for teen judges to nominate themselves - guidelines as to who can apply and how
• Submissions or nominations for books (closed at the moment)
• Guidelines for selection and eligibility of books and voting rules

           and finally 

• a link to the merchandise page

All links are simple to navigate - one click and the links open in a new page tab so you are not having to continually use the back arrow. Important links such as guidelines can be found in different sections of the opening page, ensuring that they can’t be missed.

My overall impression of the Inside a Dog website and in particular the Inkys Award was a quirkiness of design and an ease of use that was perfect for teenagers. I just loved Inky the dog, a cross between spiky, cuddly and electric, very much like teenagers themselves!

The Inky Awards

The Inkys are Australia’s first national young adult literature awards chosen by teens. This is in sharp contrast with the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Awards (http://cbca.org.au/index.htm) that are chosen by a select group of adults and not the intended readership of the books. The Inkys have two awards, a Gold Inky for an Australian book, and a Silver Inky for an International book. Every year a longlist of ten Australian books and ten International books are selected by a panel from nominations received via the online form on the IAD webpage (the books entered into the CBCA awards are nominated by publishers). This initial panel comprises former judges (mostly teens) and independent experts. The longlist books are then read by a new panel of judges (again mostly teens) and the longlist is reduced to five Australian books and five International books. The shortlists are published on the IAD website and young adults between the ages of 12 to 20 are eligible to vote. The two books (one Australian and one International) with the most votes win the awards. Interestingly only three of last year’s 2012 Inky shortlisted books appeared on the CBCA notable book list and the eventual winner of the Gold Inky, Shift, failed to make the CBCA shortlist.


“The Centre for Youth Literature’s Reader Development Manager, Anna Burkey, says the Inky Awards encourage teens to read for pleasure and share the stories they enjoy. ‘The Inky Awards are distinctive, providing a space for young people to champion the year’s very best YA fiction…” (SLV, 2012 para. 7 & 8)


State Library of Victoria (SLV). (2012). Inky Awards Winner Announced. In State Library of Victoria. Retrieved from http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/about-us/media-centre-7

State Library of Victoria (2013). Inside a dog. Retrieved from http://www.insideadog.com.au/