Cognotes 2019 Annual Conference Highlights - 16

COGNOTES

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HIGHLIGHTS

AASL Honors Award and Grant Recipients
The 2019 AASL Awards Ceremony were
presented June 23. The recipients are:

Schwarzmann to attend an AASL National
Conference for the first time.

* National School Library
of the Year Award
Awarded to: High School District 214,
Arlington Heights, Ill.
Sponsored by Follett, the award annually
honors a single school or district-wide school
library that exemplifies implementation of
AASL's "National School Library Standards
for Learners, School Librarians, and School
Libraries." High School District 214 will receive a crystal obelisk - the symbol of school
library excellence - and $10,000 toward its
school libraries.

* Innovative Reading Grant
Awarded to: Susan Gauthier, director of
library services, East Baton Rouge Parish
Schools
Sponsored by Capstone, the $2,500 award
supports the planning and implementation of
a unique and innovative program for children
that motivates and encourages reading, especially with struggling readers.

* Distinguished Service Award
Awarded to: Joyce Valenza, assistant teaching professor of library and information science, Rutgers University
Sponsored by The Rosen Publishing
Group, the $3,000 award recognizes an
individual member of the library profession
who has, over a significant period, made an
outstanding national contribution to school
librarianship and school library development.
* ABC-CLIO Leadership Grant
Awarded to: South Carolina Association
of School Librarians (SCASL)
Sponsored by ABC-CLIO, the up to
$1,750 grant is awarded to school library associations that are AASL affiliates for planning
and implementing leadership programs at the
state, regional, or local levels.
* Affiliate of the Year Award
Awarded to: Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA)
Sponsored by AASL, the $1,000 stipend
recognizes the AASL Affiliate most active and
dynamic in achieving the goals of AASL at
the state and local level. AASL established the
Affiliate of the Year Award to acknowledge the
important contributions Affiliates make to the
national organization and to the profession.
* Collaborative School Library Award
Awarded to: Carolyn Foote, school librarian, and Melinda Darrow, teacher, Westlake
High School
Sponsored by Upstart, the $2,500 award
recognizes school librarian and teacher collaboration during the development and
implementation of a curriculum-supporting
program using school library resources.
* Distinguished School
Administrator Award
Awarded to: Shirley Simmons, assistant
superintendent of educational services, Norman (Okla.) Public Schools
Sponsored by ProQuest, the $2,000 award
recognizes and honors a school administrator
who has made worthy contributions to the
operations of an exemplary school library and
to advancing the role of the school library in
the educational program.
* Frances Henne Award
Awarded to: Holly Schwarzmann, school
librarian, Largo Middle School
Sponsored by ABC-CLIO, the $1,250
award recognizes a school librarian with five
years or less experience who demonstrates
leadership qualities with students, teachers,
and administrators. The award will enable

* Inspire Collection Development Grant
Awarded to: Sean Casey, Northeast Middle
School; Melissa Iamonico, Sprain Brook
Academy; Lauren Mabry, Andrew Lewis
Middle School; Holly Schwarzmann, Largo
Middle School; Ness Shortley, Horton Middle
School; Mae-Lynn Smith, Great Oaks Charter
School Wilmington
Sponsored by Marina "Marney" Welmers,
the grant assists an existing public middle or
high school to extend, update, and diversify
the book, online, subscription and/or software
collections in their library in order to realize
sustainable improvement in student achievement at their school. $20,000 in funding is
available annually. The direct assistance grant
is capped at $5,000.
* Inspire Disaster Recovery Grant
Awarded to: Jones County Schools, North
Carolina
Sponsored by Marina "Marney" Welmers,
the grant program supports public middle or
high school libraries that incurred damage
or hardship due to a natural disaster, fire, or
an act recognized by the federal government
as terrorism. $30,000 in funding is available
annually.
* Inspire Special Event Grants
Awarded to: Wendy Carrington, Northeast
Bradford Jr./Sr. High School; Melissa Cortese,
Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School;
Amanda Jones, Live Oaks Middle School;
Lori Quintana, Griffin Middle School; Anne
Reis, Homewood Center
Sponsored by Marina "Marney" Welmers,
the grant supports a special event so that an
existing public middle or high school library
can create new or enhance its extracurricular
activities in order to increase student academic
achievement at their school. $10,000 in funding is available annually. The direct assistance
grant is capped at $2,000.
* Past-Presidents Planning
Grant for National School Library
Standards
Awarded to: Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) is the recipient of
the grant awarded in the honor of E. Blanche
Woolls and sponsored by Roger and Susan D.
Ballard; the Virginia Association of School
Librarians (VASL) is the recipient of the grant
in honor of David Loertscher and sponsored
by Roger and Susan D. Ballard; and the
New Jersey Association of School Librarians
(NJASL) is the recipient of the planning grant
awarded in the honor of Helen R. Adams and
sponsored by Cassandra Barnett
Sponsored by Cassandra Barnett and
Roger and Susan D. Ballard, the three grants
in the amount of $2,500 each is awarded to
AASL Affiliate organizations for the planning

and execution of an event, initiative, or activity focused on the implementation of the new
AASL "National School Library Standards."
* Roald Dahl's Miss Honey
Social Justice Award
Awarded to: Joquetta Johnson, school
librarian, Randallstown High School
Sponsored by Penguin Random House,
the award recognizes and encourages collaboration and partnerships between school
librarians and teachers in teaching social
justice through joint planning of a program,
unit or event in support of social justice using
school library resources. The award includes
$2,000 to the librarian, up to $1,000 in reimbursement towards travel and housing to
attend the AASL awards presentation at the
ALA Annual Conference, and a $5,000 book

donation by Penguin Random House.
* The Ruth Toor Grant for
Strong Public School Libraries
Awarded to: Jennifer Sturge, specialist for
school libraries and digital learning, Calvert
County Public Schools
Sponsored by Jay Toor in honor of Ruth
Toor, the award provides funding support on
a competitive basis to public school libraries
for the creation and implementation of a local
public awareness/marketing campaign that
promotes and positions their school library as
a necessary resource in the community. The
grant includes $3,000 to create and implement a project, and $2,000 for both the
school librarian and school official to attend
the AASL National Conference or the ALA
Annual Conference.

Coretta Scott King Book Award
Brings People Together
By Chris Heckman, Student to ALA

On June 23, the Conrad Hotel in
Washington DC played host to the firstever Coretta Scott King Book Award
Social. The award, which is celebrating
its 50th anniversary this year, honors
outstanding works of children's and young
adult fiction by African American authors
and illustrators. The 2019 ALA Annual
Conference & Exposition featured many
events celebrating this landmark year for

the award. The social was an open event during which attendees could meet and mingle
to discuss the award.
After attendees filled their plates and
gathered free books, they got to know their
tablemates with a rousing game of CSK Book
Award trivia. Each table formed a team with
colorful nicknames - The Fabulous Five and
The CSK Dream Team - and when the host
revealed that the winning team would receive
tickets to the CSK breakfast at next year's
conference, the competition became fierce.

Lisa Uhrik (far right) leads a talk in the Discussion Den in the Exhibit Hall.

Controversy
» from page 8
Pitman thanked librarians for supporting
her in times when her books and speaking
engagements have been challenged, and
echoed Morales' advice to be prepared for
any type of situation. Pitman said she has
tracked patterns of backlash against her
books and found similarities in many of
these events. "Often it's not just one person
who is disgruntled. They usually have a
larger organization behind them," Pitman
cautioned. From her perspective, backlash
against her events usually has less to do with
her books or herself as an individual, and
more to do with "censorship being used...

against a marginalized group. I represent the
LGBTQ+ community, and that's really the
only reason why my books get challenged.
Naming that can be helpful," Pitman said.
Hopkins also had advice for librarians
planning an event that might be controversial. "Understand who I am and what my
books are. Understand what kind of controversies might arise. We can talk beforehand,
and I'm happy to do that," Hopkins said.
The consensus in the room seemed to be
that libraries have a responsibility to support
their communities and listen to all sides of
a controversial event."We have to be willing
to make those hard choices," Coyl said. "We
live in a country where we have free speech,
and we can't be the arbiters of who can have
that free speech."

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Cognotes 2019 Annual Conference Highlights

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