According to the EGRA 2010, family members helping children with their homework was the highest predictor of reading fluency across both urban and rural settings and at all income levels. This implies that all children, irrespective of their background will have greater reading and writing abilities if the learning environment outside of school is supportive. The best opportunity to teach children the skills of reading is in the early grades (1–3), or earlier if possible. Children who successfully learn to read in the early primary years of school are well prepared to read for learning and for pleasure. On the other hand, those who struggle with reading difficulties in grades 1 to 3 are at a serious disadvantage. Academically, they have a much harder time keeping up with their peers and they increasingly fall behind in other subjects. Also in their life skill, nurtured readers have the incentive to lead their leisure time too positively; indeed it is at their disposal to govern the world so familiarly as well as they can be governed amenable to democratic values in various endeavors.
The current status of reading skills particularly among children, suggests that significant interventions in the quality of reading instruction and the provision of reading materials are necessary. In response to this challenge, governments, local and international communities are striving to change the situation.
HOHE Award will be organized on annual bases to select books considered to have had a very high literary merit. But also through out the year there will be several events planned to improve the reading culture among the youth and children in particular. This includes organizing seminars on regular bases, short-term trainings, children reading competition in selected primary schools, working with book clubs and publishers to support new authors to produce their literary works. It is with this in view that HOHE Awards is initiated to contribute for the advancement of reading culture in Ethiopia.
