Category Archives: Awards

Canada Intellectual Freedom Award to Teacher Librarians

The Canadian Library Association is pleased to announce that Richard Beaudry and Gail Chaddock-Costello have been chosen as winners of the 2016 Award for the Advancement of Intellectual Freedom in Canada for their demonstrated leadership and exceptional courage in resisting censorship and opposing violations of intellectual freedom in school libraries and schools.

Mr. Beaudry, long-time teacher librarian in British Columbia and 1st Vice-President of the Langley Teachers’ Association, and Ms. Chaddock-Costello, the Association’s President, were involved in a series of formal grievances in different schools over an extended period of time against arbitrary policies, and decisions that would have severely restricted access to reading materials for students and in some cases for teachers too.

Although the results of their principled determination to support intellectual freedom principles in a school environment are felt most directly by local students and teaching staff, the courage of Ms. Chaddock-Costello and Mr. Beaudry in opposing school library censorship will serve as a model for all Canadians faced with the evolving crisis in school library services. Mr. Beaudry has said, “If you attack one library in Canada, you attack them all,” and it is his and Ms. Chaddock-Costello’s commitment to the broader, national perspective that is also recognized in this Award.

Mr. Beaudry and Ms. Chaddock-Costello have not only defended the rights of students and teachers to intellectual freedom in a local school district in one province, they have also added significantly to the national narrative that sees these and related rights and responsibilities as imperative and immutable in all schools across Canada.

One of the Canadian Library Association’s core beliefs is that the principles of intellectual freedom and unfettered universal access to information, through libraries, are key components of an open and democratic society. In the face of significant opposition, Mr. Beaudry and Ms. Chaddock-Costello have demonstrated an unvarying dedication to the preservation and enhancement of school library access and services across the aggrieved school district.

This Award recognizes and supports their principled collective achievements in championing school library reading, unfettered access to library materials, the importance of school board policies honouring due process, and the core value of intellectual freedom.

The Canadian Library Association’s Award for the Advancement of Intellectual Freedom in Canadarecognizes and honours outstanding contributions to intellectual freedom in Canada by individuals or groups. Preference is given to librarians and library institutions. However like-minded individuals such as teachers or authors or groups such as schools or publishers are also eligible. The award is given from time-to-time, not necessarily on an annual basis, and there may be more than one recipient in any one year. For more information go to: http://bit.ly/1Um2Z2x

Section steering committee member honored

The Ontario Library Association (OLA) is thrilled to recognize several individuals and organizations that have greatly contributed to Ontario’s libraries. From library advocacy to program development, the recipients of OLA’s 2015 awards have supported school, academic and public libraries with outstanding innovation in their communities. Awards will be presented to recipients during the annual OLA Super Conference, held from Jan. 27 to 30, 2016. Among the award winners is Joanne Plante, Conseil Des Écoles Catholiques Du Centre-Est by the L’Association des bibliothèques de l’Ontario-Franco (ABO-Franco), who won Le Prix Micheline Persaud.

Furthermore, Joanne Plante has been nominated by Radio-Canada (CBC) – Le Droit to be Personnality of the week! She was interviewed by Radio-Canada and Unique FM, and hopes this can give importance to School Libraries.

Göteborg Book Fair

Several international reading promoters will visit Sweden and Göteborg Book Fair on September 24-27. This year’s laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), the South African organisation PRAESA, and Daniel Goldin, publisher and Director of the Vasconcelos Library in Mexico City, will participate in seminars and programs at the Swedish Art Council’s Young Stage (Ung scen).

“We are excited about this year’s Book Fair,” says ALMA Director Helen Sigeland. “We hope that many visitors will be inspired by PRAESA’s amazing work, which focuses on encouraging children to read for enjoyment, building their self-esteem and helping them connect to their native language through reading and stories, which is highly topical issue today.”

PRAESA is represented by Arabella Koopman, Content Manager for the national reading promotion project Nal’ibali, a network of reading clubs that uses media campaigns to encourage children to read and inspire parents, grandparents and teachers to read with them.

“Daniel Goldin is one of the world’s foremost reading promoters, a brilliant inspirer,” says Helen Sigeland. Daniel Goldin is the publisher who discovered the 2013 ALMA Laureate Isol’s talent for illustrated children’s books.

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world’s largest award for children’s and young adult literature. The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million, is given annually to a single laureate or to several. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading promoters are eligible. The award is designed to promote interest in children’s and young adult literature. The UN convention of rights of the child is the foundation of our work. An expert jury selects the laureate(s) from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations all over the world. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 and is administrated by the Swedish Arts Council.

UNESCO call for literacy projects

The UNESCO International Literacy Prizes reward excellence and innovation in the field of literacy throughout the world. Since 1967, UNESCO has awarded the Prizes to over 460 projects and programs. They have launched a call for nominations of candidates for 2015 under the theme “Literacy and the post-2015 agenda.”

A 2014 Confucius Prize for Literacy was awarded to the Molteno Institute for Language and Literacy (South Africa) and the International Literacy Institute (United States) for the ‘Bridges to the Future Initiative.’  An interactive, computer-based learning tool to improve literacy rates among primary grade learners in local languages and structuring lessons to align with the national curriculum.  This program is a successful North-South partnership between the International Literacy Institute at the University of Pennsylvania and a national South African organization working in several countries in the region. The International Literacy Institute is led by Dr. Dan Wagner, UNESCO Chair in Learning and Literacy and member of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.

The Prizes consist of the three UNESCO Confucius Prizes for Literacy and the two UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prizes. Governments of Member States and Non-Governmental Organizations maintaining official relations with UNESCO are invited to submit their nominations.  Entries must be received at UNESCO by May 10, 2015 for Individuals and May 25 for NGOs. Interested parties should contact the U.S. National Commission by May 5th at dcunesco@state.gov.

For more information: http://www.unesco.org/literacy-prizes/

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

Based in Cape Town, PRAESA (Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa) is an organisation that has worked to promote reading and literature for children and young people in South Africa since 1992.

The Jury’s Citation reads:

With the joy of reading as its compass point, PRAESA opens new routes into the world of books and literature for young readers in South Africa. Through innovative reading and storytelling projects, PRAESA brings people together and brings literature in multiple languages alive. PRAESA’s outstanding work shows the world the crucial role of books and stories in creating rich, full lives for our children and young people.

For more than twenty years, PRAESA has made powerful, innovative moves to highlight literature as a key component of both personal and societal development, always grounded in the specific conditions of South African society and culture. Its work focuses on encouraging children to read for enjoyment, building their self-esteem, and helping them connect to their native language through reading and story.

PRAESA has three core goals: to provide children with high-quality literature in the various South African languages; to collaborate with and foster new networks among publishers and organisations that promote reading; and to initiate and carry out activities that can help sustain a living culture of reading and storytelling in socially vulnerable communities. PRAESA works in constant dialogue with the latest research and in collaboration with volunteers at the grass roots level.

To encourage children to read in their native languages, PRAESA produced the Little Hands books, a series of short books in different African languages. Another project, the Vulindlela Reading Club, combined oral storytelling with reading, singing games, and dramatizations, and led to the formation of many more reading clubs in Cape Town and other provinces. The national reading promotion initiative Nal’ibali is a network of reading clubs that uses media campaigns to encourage children to read and inspire parents, grandparents, and teachers to read with them.

In 2014, PRAESA received the Asahi Reading Promotion Award, a prize instituted by the International Board on Books for Young People, IBBY.

PRAESA will accept the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award at the Stockholm Concert Hall on June 1, 2015.

More information: Helene Andersson, Communications Officer    helene.andersson@alma.se

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world’s largest award for children’s and young adult literature. The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million, is given annually to a single laureate or to several. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading promoters are eligible. The award is designed to promote interest in children’s and young adult literature. The UN convention of rights of the child is the foundation of our work. An expert jury selects the laureate(s) from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations all over the world. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 and is administrated by the Swedish Arts Council.

Library of Congress Library Awards call for applications

The Library of Congress Center for the Book is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the 2015 Library of Congress Literacy Awards. These awards are given to outstanding organizations working to promote literacy, both in the United States and worldwide. The awards seek to recognize organizations doing exemplary, innovative and replicable work over a sustained period of time and to encourage new groups, organizations and individuals to become involved. All groups that work to promote literacy are encouraged to apply.

The application rules and a downloadable application form may be accessed at www.read.gov/literacyawards/. Applications must be received no later than midnight on March 31, 2015.

Last year, the awards went to Room to Read (Rubenstein Prize-$150,000), SMART (American Prize-$50,000) and Mother Child Education Foundation (International Prize-$50,000). More information about these organizations and 14 other literacy leaders is available in “Library of Congress Literacy Awards 2014: Best Practices” at read.gov/documents/best-practices2014-for-web.pdf.

Please share this information with any organizations that you think might be interested in applying for these awards. Questions may be directed to literacyawards@loc.gov.

Canadian School Libraries Standards win award

The Canadian Library Association’s Leading Learning Project has been selected to receive the Ontario Library Association President’s Award for Exceptional Achievement at our Super Conference in January 2015. The President’s Award for Exceptional Achievement acknowledges an outstanding action or contribution that has in a major or unique way enhanced or furthered librarianship in Ontario. The selection is at the full discretion of the President of the OLA. Awards are only given if there is something of true historic significance to recognize.

The publication of Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Libraries in Canada is an event of true historic significance. As the document says, “Learners have a right to expect good school libraries in every school in Canada.” Standards can indeed help measure practice, but Leading Learning does much more. By focusing on the needs of the learner, Leading Learning provides a framework for growth. Every school, no matter the status of its library program, can find itself in this framework and decide on tangible steps for improvement. The development of Leading Learning brought together input from every province and territory in the country, and successfully developed standards for growth that are meaningful within this very disparate context. This is a remarkable achievement.

The Royal Society of Canada’s recently released expert panel report on the status and future of Canada’s libraries and archives made recommendations for improving standards for school library programs across the country. It cited Leading Learning and our own guideline document, Together for Learning: School Libraries and the Emergence of the Learning Commons as models for moving forward. In the Ontario context, Leading Learning provides a sympathetic framework for achieving the vision of Together for Learning , and as such, is particularly deserving of an award for enhancing or furthering librarianship in this province. It is also my hope that this award will help to advance the implementation of Leading Learning across the country and advocate for school library programs, particularly in light of the RSC’s recommendations.

Congratulations!

Anita Brooks Kirkland
Consultant, Libraries & Learning
anitabk@bythebrooks.ca

President, Ontario Library Association
www.accessola.org