National Magazine Day launches today with a nationwide campaign, led by Immediate, to help more children discover the joy of reading through magazines.
As part of the National Year of Reading, the initiative brings together leading publishers - including Immediate, DC Thompson, Egmont, Kennedy and Future - in partnership with distribution partner Frontline, to get more than 60,000 magazines into the hands of children who may not otherwise have access to reading materials. Working with National Literacy Trust hubs, and supported by independent charities such as The Children’s Book Project and Book Bank Charity, Immediate says the campaign will target families and communities who have limited access to reading resources.
A national school competition will run from 1 July to 1 September, inviting parents and carers to enter for the chance to win bundles of children’s magazines for their child’s school by answering one simple question. Twenty schools across the UK will each receive 250 magazines, with winners notified in early October and prizes delivered in time for National Magazine Day on 14 October.
Families who nominate a winning school will also receive a £100 Amazon voucher as a thank you, and one school will be awarded a special £1,000 ‘Golden Ticket’ to spend on new books, magazines and other reading resources for their library. The competition will celebrate reading for pleasure and aims to spark a wave of excitement around magazines in classrooms and playgrounds.
Sean Cornwell, CEO at Immediate says: “At the heart of this campaign is a simple aim: to help children discover the joy of reading. Magazines offer a uniquely engaging entry point for young readers, especially powerful for reluctant or less confident readers. It’s fantastic to work on such an important project with our partners from across the industry to demonstrate the impact we can have when publishers, partners and charities work together to help inspire more children to enjoy reading.”
Ali Foster-Grose, director of community & events at Immediate added: “We created National Magazine Day to help make reading accessible, inclusive and genuinely enjoyable for children across the country. Our hope is that this becomes the start of something with real and lasting impact.”
In a recent study from the National Literacy Trust, reading enjoyment among 8-18‑year‑olds showed a modest rise after four consecutive years of decline, with more than a third now saying they enjoy reading in their free time. However, overall engagement remains worryingly low, continued Immediate, and the research highlights a widening gap for children receiving means‑tested support, who are significantly less likely to have books, magazines or other reading materials at home.
National Magazine Day aims to help address this gap in a simple but effective way, using magazines as an inclusive, low‑barrier entry point into reading at home, in schools and in communities.
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