FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: TORONTO (January 20, 2012) – Award-winning children’s author and illustrator Barbara Reid has been appointed as a member of the Order of Ontario. The Honourable David C. Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, will invest the appointees at a ceremony on Thursday, January 26 at Queen’s Park.

As a child, Barbara Reid’s favorite things were animals, the outdoors, reading and drawing. After winning a creative writing contest in Grade 6, she decided she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. But by the end of high school it was clear that although she enjoyed writing, she liked reading a lot more, and drawing best of all. It was for a class assignment at the Ontario College of Art and Design that she first experimented with Plasticine to make a dimensional picture. The project was a surprise success and she has been creating Plasticine masterpieces ever since.

Her first book was New Baby Calf by Edith Newlin, and since then Barbara has illustrated over 25 books for children. She has won numerous awards including the Amelia Francis Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award, the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Award, the Mr. Christie’s Book Award (Illustration), the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award and the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award (Illustration).

Created in 1986, The Order of Ontario, the province’s highest official honour, recognizes the highest level of individual excellence and achievement in any field. Nominations are made by members of the public.

For more information, please contact:

James Bertrand, Communications Branch
Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration
416-314-7725, james.bertrand@ontario.ca
Disponible en français

Nanda Casucci-Byrne
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
416-325-7780