An awards ceremony for young book worms is being held at Erina Library on 14 February to celebrate the libraries' Summer Reading Competition.

All 163 young book lovers who registered for this year’s challenge are invited to attend the event, which falls on Valentine’s and Library Lovers Day, and includes a silent disco.

Council’s Group Leader of Connected Communities, Ms Julie Vaughan, said the library children’s team from both ends of the coast are committed to making sure children keep learning by helping them discover the joys of readings.

“We like to encourage children to keep developing and learning over the summer holidays by taking part in educational activities such as this one,” Ms Vaughan said.

“Council libraries are committed to investing in educational activities for children in order to make sure they are well equipped for the life and the work force.”

The competition was open to children aged 5 – 16 years, and has been running nationally for five years. It was started by the State Library of Queensland, who ran it for eight years before it went national.

Some 48,419 children took part across Australia, with 15,856 of those in NSW.

Some 96 per cent of NSW libraries take part in the challenge, which in 2015 saw 78 per cent of libraries reporting the competition had increased their ability to engage with children and young people.

The theme for this year’s competition was Heroes and Villains, and prizes include Vinyl Pop figures of popular heroes and villains.

Council’s Administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, said he was delighted to report that council libraries were seeing many voracious young readers, with one young child from Umina recording more than 100 books in her reading log.

“Literacy skills are so important and inspiring a love of reading in young people is the passionate goal of our libraries and librarians. The summer reading competition provides a structured way in which children learn to engage with libraries and library collections and discover the joy of reading.”