Next month, we’re celebrating all things #LoveOzYA! As The YA Room is coming up to its first birthday, we want to spread the love for the community that welcomed us with open arms. Twelve months ago, The YA Room was just a hopeful experiment, created by two girls that met at a book launch and share the same passion for reading. We both wanted to create a space for Melbourne YA book lovers to come together on a monthly basis and talk books.

As everyone in the #LoveOzYA community helped to spread the word, we went from being a book club with less than ten people at a couple of our initial Book Meets, to hosting Q&As with authors at the Wheeler Centre. We know that The YA Room will only continue to grow, and we have the #LoveOzYA community to thank for that. The authors, bloggers, readers, and industry professionals who come together to form this community are the most welcoming, kind, and passionate people we’ve ever come across, and we’re eternally grateful for all of you. We wouldn’t exist without you.

We know that next year will be an even bigger and better year, and we’re excited to plan more Book Meets, host some bigger events, and continue to spread the love of YA. But we want to finish off the year with a bang. So in December, please join us in celebrating all things #LoveOzYA by participating in our Bingo Challenge and sharing the content that Aussie bloggers, authors, and booktubers, will be contributing to our blog and YouTube channel across December.

Towards the end of this month, we’ll be releasing the schedule for all the #LoveOzYA content that we’ll be sharing across our various social media platforms. We have so many exciting contributors, and we’re so grateful to everyone who’s pitching in. In conjunction with these amazing Aussie content creators, we’re going to be sharing our favourite #LoveOzYA novels, what the #LoveOzYA community means to us, and what upcoming releases we’re most looking forward to.

We’d like you to take this time in December to think about the impact the #LoveOzYA community has had on you and what your favourite #LoveOzYA novels are, and we’d love to see you sharing your thoughts across social media. Remember to tag us so we can share your insights!

But what’s undeniably going to be the most fun aspect of our month of #LoveOzYA goodness is the #LoveOzYA Bingo Challenge we’ve created! This is the first bingo challenge we’ve made, and we hope you’ll get involved. Plus, there are some epic prizes to be won! Scroll down to learn more.

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#LoveOzYA Bingo Challenge

Rules:

• You can choose any line containing five squares, either horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.

• You cannot choose the same book for more than one square.
• Each book you read must be written by an Australian author – the author must have either been born in Australia, be living in Australia, or considers themselves Australian.
• Each book you read must be of the Young Adult readership.

• You may choose any #LoveOzYA novel for the Free Space, as long as you have not used that novel to fill another square.

• All books must be read between December 1 and December 31.
• You may reread a book you have previously read, however you cannot reread a book and use it for more than one square.

Prizes:

Up for grabs is one $50 book voucher for the participant that completes all 25 squares on the bingo board. If there are multiple people who have completed all 25 squares, only one person will be selected randomly to win the voucher.

There are also two $25 book vouchers to be won, which will be awarded to the people that complete at least one line of the bingo board, and present this as creatively as possible. You may choose to share what books you read as a part of the Bingo Challenge in a video, or a blog post, or any other means you choose.

To go in the draw to win the bingo challenge prizes, please provide where you will be posting about the #LoveOzYA Bingo Challenge in the comments so we can check out your progress! You don’t have to live in Australia to participate. You can send us links to your entries via any of our social media platforms, or leave the link in the comments section below.

We’ll contact the winners of the prizes during the first week of January.

Need help?

Keep an eye out on our social media for our recommendations for each square. We’ll also be sharing our TBR and recommendations for each square in a post shortly!

Twitter – @TheYARoom_MELB

YouTube – The YA Room

Facebook – The YA Room

Instagram – @theyaroom

Stay connected!

Use the hashtag #LoveOzYABingo to share what you’re reading or ask for recommendations. Don’t forget to tag us – @TheYARoom_MELB on Twitter and @theyaroom on Instagram – so we can check out your progress!

Feel free to use the gorgeous graphics created by Read at Midnight in your posts!

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But that’s not all!

Because we’re hosting the #LoveOzYA Bingo Challenge, there’s not going to be a December Book of the Month – but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a Book Meet or Twitter Chat! If you live in Melbourne, we’ve got something very exciting to announce.

That’s right! We’re finishing off the year with a picnic in the Royal Botanic Gardens – the same place as where we had our Inaugural Picnic earlier this year. There’s going to be food and bookish games and a book swap, and even a few authors in attendance. Mark this in your calendar, because this is an event that’s not to be missed.

If you’d like to come, bring a plate of food to share and any books you want to swap!

Grab your free ticket here.

And then on Monday 20 December we’ll be having our monthly Twitter chat to talk about our progress on the Bingo Challenge, what our favourite #LoveOzYA novels are, and which new Aussie releases we’re most excited to read!

We hope you can join in the fun!

Sarah & Alex ❤️