2025 Premier's Reading Challenge

Welcome to the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge 
The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely. The Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) is open to all NSW students in Kindergarten to Year 10, in government, independent, Catholic and home schools. If you need help using the website and the answer cannot be found on the PRC Support site, please contact us at prc@det.nsw.edu.au 

The 2025 PRC is now closed to student and coordinator entries. 

Coordinators are no longer able to view, add to, or validate student reading records. 
Please refer to How do I see who has completed the PRC now the Challenge is closed? if you are unsure if a student has a valdiated readong record.  

• If you have a complete but not validated reading record: Please email the PRC team with any student names. The PRC team will validate these reading records on your behalf. 
• If you have an incomplete student reading record: Your principal will need to complete a post-challenge validation application which can be found here. 

2026 Dates
Challenge opens: Monday 23 February 2025
Challenge closes to students: To be confirmed in December
Challenge closes to coordinators: To be confirmed in December

End of Challenge information session
The end of Challenge information sessions for coordinators are now available to view on demand. These sessions are ideal for staff who are new to coordinating the PRC, or would like a refresher.   
Public school coordinator session: Watch here
Non-government coordinator session: Watch here

Term 3 Booklist update
The Term 3 2025 booklist is now live! 220 new books have been added to the booklists. Click on the image below, or visit the booklists page to check out the new titles added to the PRC booklists this year! 

Stay up-to-date with the PRC newsletter
Please refer to your relevant sector's coordinator newsletter for more information:
Non-government schools newsletter
Public schools newsletter

Non-government student password reset. 

All non-government student passwords were reset ahead of the 2025 Challenge opening to enable the rollout of a new password tool for non-government coordinators. Please view this support article for instructions on accessing student passwords. Coordinators will now be able to download student password files until the PRC closes to students on Friday 19 September. If you are experiencing issues accessing your password files, please contact the PRC team.

If you are non-government student who participates independently or a homeschooled student, your password has also been reset. Please contact the PRC team for your new password. 

The 2025 PRC is now open! 
To celebrate the opening of the PRC, why not:

• Listen to Matt Ottley's composition, Dance of the Jellyfish with your students.
• Use Matt Ottley's composition notes to unpack the artwork and music with your students.
• View the Introduction to the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge video with your students.
• Have students create their very own book jellyfish - follow the video on the PRC instagram page or create your own!
• Visit our Tips and Teaching notes page to find downloadable PowerPoints, bookmarks and newsletter templates.
• Listen to a past author interview held at the Sydney Writer's Festival.

Happy reading!

Matt Ottleys music & composer notes
Artist, author and composer Matt Ottley, who created the artwork for the 2025 PRC poster, also composed a piece of music titled to accompany the artwork, titled Dance of the jellyfish. This composition is part of Matt Ottley's Sound of picture books initiative, which is designed to allow audiences to experience literature, art and music linked in a multimodal manner. 

Matt Ottley has also generously provided detailed resource notes that unpack the artwork and music. Visit our Tips and Teaching notes page to download these resource notes.

2025 Sydney Writer's Festival Author Talks

Head backstage with students from Caddies Creek Public School and Glenwood High School as they interview authors that feature on the PRC booklists! View these talks for free any time on The Arts Unit website. Pair each interview with our downloadable resource kit, packed with engaging activities to spark reflection, creativity and help students discover their next great read.

The 2025 NSW Premier's Reading Challenge is proudly supported by Digital Partner, ePlatform and Supporter, Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).