>> Dawn Stitzel: Good afternoon and welcome to the 2021 Library of Congress Literacy Awards Application Webinar. I am Dawn Stitzel, national program director of the Library of Congress Literacy Awards, and we're so glad you've joined us. Since 2013, the Library of Congress Literacy Awards program generously supported by David M. Rubenstein, has awarded nearly two and a quarter million in prizes to 136 institutions in 36 countries. So, we are entering our nineth year. Applications for the 2021 award cycle will be accepted from January 15th through March 5th, 2021. We award three major prizes annually, the American Prize for $50,000, the International Prize for 50,000, and the David M. Rubenstein Prize for $150,000. Your organization must be a nonprofit working in literacy to be eligible to apply. In addition to the three major prizes, we also recognize up to 15 Successful Practices Honorees, formerly called Best Practices Honorees for $5000 each. To be considered for 2021 Successful Practices Honoree recognition, you would need to apply for one of the three major awards that I just mentioned. Applicants for the three major awards who are not selected as winners of the major awards but who are identified by our judges, Literacy Awards Advisory Board members, as having successful practices are considered for one of these up to 15 smaller awards. Examples of past award recipients in the three categories as well as successful practices honorees, may be found on our interactive map on our website. You are able to see the headquarter location of the winning organization as well as the prize they received and a brief overview of [inaudible]. Past David M. Rubenstein award recipients are not eligible to apply for one of our awards again but past American, International, and Successful Practices Honorees, formerly Best Practices honorees, may apply again if the project is different from the one that received recognition previously. If you are reapplying, you must indicate in the new application what is new and different. All 17 members of the 2021 Literacy Awards Advisory Board serve on one of the three prize committees. Literacy Awards Advisory Board members review the applications against the scoring rubric and make their recommendations. We have three members of a Literacy Awards Advisory Board here today who serve as a chair or acting chair of these three 2021 prize committees. They will each discuss specifics that may help you better decide for which prize your organization would be most competitive. I am now pleased to introduce Karen M. Ristau, who serves as the 2021 chair of the American Prize committee. Karen will speak about helpful tips [inaudible] the application for any of the three prizes, and then she will talk specifically about the American Prize. Karen is the former president National Catholic Education Association and a professor, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, retired. Karen, I turn it over to you. >> Karen M. Ristau: I've served on this board since its inception and as chair of the American Prize since 2014. So, it's from that perspective that I hope to provide a little more information to support your application beyond what you can find on the Library of Congress webpage. But first of all, I would like to offer you some suggestions about writing the application, which are germane to all. Writing well is very important. First and foremost, this is a program that rewards what you have already accomplished, not what you hope to do. It's a prize, an award, not a grant. This seems obvious, but tell us exactly what you do. Meeting the needs of families is not an adequate description. As is noted on the webpage, don't use up your word count in the essay telling us the problem unless it's truly unique. We know the issues, and we know the statistics. Address the categories of the rubrics specifically but don't sell yourself short. For most of us, boasting is a little uncomfortable, but do it anyway. Next, clarity in writing is essential. Avoid faddish language or current buzz words used in your language community or in your profession because they may be a mystery to the committee readers. Remember, the people who will be reading your application are a varied group, your audience, so to speak. Our experience and background is in library work and in education at all levels. We are from publishing and from foundation work. We are also authors and poets and program directors. So, straightforward language. The information on your webpage often adds insight. So, if your program, let's say, surfaces maybe to the top five, a committee member will probably read your webpage and check all those other links you provide, but don't force us to do all your work. Letters of recommendation. Be sure they're current and they're accurate and that the writer actually knows your program. Remind the writer that this is not a grant, than an award for achievement, and the letter is actually addressed to the Library of Congress. And lastly, I would say don't force the process. As you work through the application and you find your program lacking a bit, use this occasion as a time to reflect and improve your program and apply again. Thank you. Now, let's look specifically at the American Prize. The American Prize in the amount of $50,000 is awarded for a significant and measurable contribution to increasing literacy levels given to an organization based in the United States or the national awareness of the importance of literacy to an organization based in the United States. So, based in the United States, serving folks in the United States, to increase literacy levels and keep people reading. Now, let's look at the rubric. Next slide please. Does your program fit the American Prize? Reviewing the points given for the categories will help you. They are not the same for each prize. Tempted though you may be by the monetary award, you need to make a wise decision about the best fit for you. So, if you compare the American Prize rubric with the Rubenstein rubric, you will notice that the American gives more points to innovation, because we're looking for interesting approaches to the problem. But it gives less points to sustainability because these programs may be a bit newer or recent. And it gives more points to replicability. Has the program grown? Has your ideas helped others? Let's look at some of the, a sample here of some of the past American Prize winners. And note the variety of the winners. Eight twenty-six National is an afterschool and weekend program offering writing workshops in storefront locations to middle and high school students. It provides one-to-one tutoring. Participants' poetry, essays, and stories are published by 826 National. They also welcome teachers by supporting new and exciting approaches to writing. It started modestly in San Francisco, but now there are at least nine chapters throughout the United States, supported by almost 5000 volunteers. United Through Reading recognizes the importance of relationships in fostering early literacy. United Through Reading enables active military personnel to read to their families. Their reading is recorded from military bases, outposts, USO centers, and even Asia. Thirty years later, because of United Through Reading, more than 2 million military mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, older siblings, and children have sustained bonds and fostered literacy by sharing stories across even the greatest distances. The next one is the National Center for Families Learning, which provides literacy strategy, programming, and resources to multiple generations but especially parents and their children. They recognize and have for the past 31 years that when parents can help children learn at home, reading levels rise. The National Center is especially focused on eradicating poverty by serving in under-resourced areas. They operate in 39 states, and they estimate that they have served nearly four and a half million people The American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults specializing in providing help to blind people that's not readily available to them from other agencies. The Action Fund assts blind and deaf-blind people in securing reading material, educates the public about blindness, provides specialized aids and appliances to the blind, and offers assistance to those losing vision in their later years. Though it started in 1919, the Action Fund remains a leader, meeting the current needs of folks, especially incorporating technology in and with Braille usage, and they operate with countless volunteers. The Immigrant Learning Center provides free, year-round, and very intense English classes to immigrant and refugee adults to help them become successful workers, parents, and citizens. The participants receive individual instruction from licensed teachers and volunteers. Programs are flexible in order to respond to the changing needs of their clients. This Center also educates others about the economic and social contributions of immigrants to our society and provides research through a joint venture with George Mason University. So, take time to review the past winners more on the webpage. Look at both the American Prize and the Rubenstein Prize, and you might see a difference in breadth, scope, and maybe depth, and that should help you decide which prize category you should apply to. Then lastly, let's look at the characteristics that we are looking for as the committee members [inaudible]. Innovation. We hope to see new models, unique partnerships, adaptation to culture, to crisis, to change in population, or change in community needs. And of course, we're looking for interesting ways that technology has been incorporated. We're looking at its significance. Demonstrate that your program is providing essential, meaningful, and substantive contributions. Are you a leader in a geographical area, engaged with others, growing. Maybe others turn to you for ideas because of your notable work. And the last one I want to mention is measurable. Is your program successful? How do you know? And can you demonstrate that to others, maybe through evaluation results, scores, numbers of participation, validation by some external source. Be as specific as possible to show your success. Thank you. >> Dawn Stitzel: Thank you very much, Karen. I am pleased now to introduce Loriene Roy, who serves as the 2021 Acting Chair of the International Prize committee. Loriene is a professor, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin, past president of the American Library Association, and is Anishinaabe and enrolled in the White Earth Reservation. I turn it over to you, Loriene. >> Loriene Roy: Thank you very much. It is a great pleasure to add a few comments about the Library of Congress Literacy Awards International Prize. I'm a member of the International Award's committee and am sitting in today for our chair, Bonita Summerfield. Next slide. Like the American Prize, the prize amount for the International Prize is $50,000, awarded for a significant and measurable contribution to increasing literacy levels in a country other than the United States. This is awarded to an organization that is based either inside or outside the United States. Next slide please. The International Award committee will follow a similar rubric. So, if you are not yet ready to apply for the Rubenstein award, and you serve people outside of the United States, think of the International Prize. So, the rubric is similar to the International, between the International Prize and the American Prize. We score applications on five criteria. Innovation. Ask yourself is your literacy program unique, original, creative, forward thinking. Sustainability. Does your program have a predictable and strong budget? Have you identified your funding sources? Do you describe your institutional support and community participation? Replicability. Sorry. Can another organization repeat your efforts? Just say repeat, can someone repeat what we're doing? Measurable results. Do you provide measurements of individual improved literacy or other results such as publications by the target audience, improved literacy curriculum. Evidence-based practiced. Do you provide evidence of reliance on research and existing professional literature in applied practice? Next slide. Let's take a quick trip around the world to mention some international prize recipients from the past. We're taking a look at the interactive map that again is on the awards website, and here you can see the geographic distribution. The green stars are for the International Prize awardees. The orange dots are for what we call Successful Practices, formerly called the Best Practices, and you'll see many of these in other countries. So, when you go to that part of the website, you have to enlarge the map, click on a dot, and that will bring you to the program website. Since 2013, there have been eight International Prizes awarded. Most have focused on literacy in one country, India, Turkey, England, Mexico, El Salvador, Pakistan. Libraries Without Borders has worked in 50 countries included Senegal and Bangladesh. Some organizations have received more than one award. For example, Pratham Books of Bangalore, India, received a Best Practice recognition in 2014, the International Prize in 2018, and a 2020 David M. Rubenstein Special Response Award in recognizing work done during COVID and their response during our time of increased focus on social justice. Looking at the other recipients, our first year, 2013, the recipient was Planet Read in India. They put subtitles on television programs so that viewers can also read. In 2014, the recipient was the Mother-Child Education Foundation in Turkey, where the Ministry to National Education adopted the Mother-Child Education Foundation model of using volunteers to teach basic literacy to adults, especially mother's. And rural learners had a web-based literacy program. Coram Beanstalk received the International Prize in 2015, founded in 1973 in England. Since then, Beanstalk has trained a network of reading helpers who have helped over 200,000 children learn to read. In 206, prize went to Libraries Without Borders, operates in many countries. Their idea [inaudible] a pop-up library that can be set up on site such as a Syrian refugee camp and rural aboriginal communities in Australia. In 2017, Pratham Books in India, they produce high-quality children's books in many languages spoken in India. They're Story Weavers project includes digital copies of thousands of stories in over 100 languages. In 2018, the International Prize went to the Instituto Pedagogico para Problemas del Lenguaje in Mexico City, assisting deaf children and children with learning disabilities. In 2019, the award went to ConTextos based in Chicago but serving El Salvador. [Foreign language spoken] I'm a reader focuses on developing libraries and providing books. [Foreign language spoken] I'm an author, children write their own memoires. And then 2020, the International Rescue Committee received the International Prize. That's in Pakistan. The Pakistan Reading Project is a national reading reform that is reaching over a million children and training teachers. Let's go to the next slide. So, what are some of the characteristics, again, when we look at your application? Remind yourself again, go back to Karen's excellent advice to applicants on how to prepare your application. This also applies to the International Prize. But remember, that the focus is on literacy outside of the U.S. You also want to look at the FAQ on the Library of Congress Literacy Awards website. Ask yourself, is your literacy effort original and well-sustained? Are there aspects of your program that might work in other settings? Do you have documented results related to research. As ConTextos, the 2019 International Prize winner noted, the value of this award is so much more than the incredible $50,000 as it will enable us to raise more funds, maintain our commitment to high quality, and expand our impact. We look forward to seeing your application for an International Prize, and I will turn back this conversation to Dawn Stitzel. >> Dawn Stitzel: Thank you, Loriene. I am now please to introduce Susan Hildreth, who serves at the chair of the Advisory Board as well as the chair of the 2021 David M. Rubenstein Prize committee. Susan is the former Distinguished Practitioner in Residence, University of Washington Information School, the former director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the former city librarian of Seattle and San Francisco public libraries, and former State Librarian of California. Susan, I turn it over to you >> Susan H. Hildreth: Well, thank you very much, Dawn. I'm very pleased to be with you today, and I think we might want to go to our next slide. Okay. Here I am talking about the David Rubenstein Prize. It is very exciting to be able to do that with you today. So, as Dawn mentioned, I've been involved with the Literacy Awards and the Rubenstein Prize since the program inception, and I just want to call out a thanks to Mr. David Rubenstein for his generosity in sponsoring this entire program. So, all our awards are very important, yet our most prestigious award is named for our program sponsor, and that is the Rubenstein Prize at $150,000. As Karen said earlier, this is an award that recognizes a body of completed work and service. It's not a grant. I think it's, we want to mention that specifically because often in the applications we'll see language where the applicant is assuming this is a grant to start a new program, but this is really a recognition of your body of work of your organization. So, for the Rubenstein Prize, applicants can be based either inside or outside of the U.S., serving international audiences, U.S. audiences, whatever is your key target audience. Organizations must be able to demonstrate outstanding and measurable results in moving the needle on literacy and also show an exceptional and sustained commitment to literacy. Organizations to be considered for the Rubenstein Prize must represent the highest quality in services and operation. So, could we go to the next slide. So, as you have heard previously, the Advisory Board uses the same criteria in reviewing each application, yet the weights given the criteria vary depending on the award. For the Rubenstein award, sustainability is a major consideration. As you can see, it has 30 points, and those considerations are as follows. Is the organization well-funded with a variety of revenue sources and partners? Has the organization had a strong track record in funding and continuing operations? Also, measurable results at 25 points is very important as well. We often see programs that are providing unique and meaningful services, yet the impact of those services is not being measured in a visible or transparent way. The impact of the services of the Rubenstein awardees must be clear and significant over at least several years and of course innovation, replicability, and evidence-based practice, those are all very important as well, and will be addressed in your application if you decide to do so, but sustainability and measurable results are key for the Rubenstein Prize. So, could we go to the next slide? Thank you. So, there have been a number of amazing winners since 2013 both from within and outside of the U.S. doing great work in advancing literacy for all ages. Some of those winners include First Book, Reading is Fundamental, Proliteracy, and today I wanted to highlight two examples of organizations that have received the Rubenstein Prize. First, in 2013, this was our first Rubenstein Prize, Reach Out & Read received that award. Reach Out & Read has a foundational principle that all families should have the tools and information they need to make reading aloud a daily routine. Doctors and health care providers integrate reading into pediatric practices. They advise families about the importance of reading with their children and share books that serve as catalysts for healthy childhood development. Reach Out & Read has unmatched access to families during the years from birth to age three, a period of critical brain development. They see these families during all their well-baby checks, which practically everybody participates in, hopefully. Reach Out & Read serves 4.5 million children annually in the United States with over 50% of those kids coming from low-income families. Room to Read has had a long history with the Library of Congress Literacy Awards. It was named as a Best Practice in 2013. It received the Rubenstein award in 2014, and it also received the Special Response award in 2020, and as Loriene mentioned, that was the award which recognized a very immediate and effective response to COVID and also working with the challenges that we experienced with social justice in the last difficult year. Room to Read's innovative literacy program ensures that primary schools have libraries filled with books in the children's local languages as well as teachers and librarians who are trained on how to engage a classroom of eager, young learners. When we talk about measurability, here's a good example. By the end of grade two, children in Room to Read's literacy program read two to three times as fast and read with 87% greater comprehension than their peers in non Room to Read program schools. Parents, schools, and government partners create a supportive environment for reading both at home and in school, and Room to Read has worked with over 18 million children in Africa and Asia. Let's go to the next slide, please. So, if you're interested in applying for the Rubenstein award, think about your organization. Can you demonstrate with specific results and metrics that your program and services have made a significant impact on your target audience? Is your organization sustainable? Do you have a strong track record in fundraising, managing expenses, and delivering programs and services efficiently? Do you proactively anticipate change? And this is really important, because what works in our field, in the literacy field, changes all the time, and it's very exciting and important for those of us who review the applications to see that our award winners are constantly anticipating how to best serve their audiences with changing learning environments. Is your organization closely aligned with research and innovation in your field so that you can develop new approaches to providing services, new tools, and a new format? If your organization demonstrates these characteristics, then go for the Rubenstein Prize. Could we go to the next slide? So, you've heard us talk about the Successful Practices Honorees, formerly known as Best Practices. As previously mentioned, each year up to 15 organizations are honored as successful practices with a $5000 prize. As the Advisory Board Prize Committees review the applications, we often find very specific services or programs that are innovative and unique, addressing the needs of unserved audiences many time. Although the organizations that provide these programs may not meet award criteria as clearly or as completely as other applicants, we want to lift up and highlight these services. And often, as you can see, successful best practice or successful practice honorees come back in future years and become award winners. You've gotten a lot of good advice today, and we're going to have time for questions, but I encourage you to submit an application for whatever award you think best fits your organization or even start the process of developing an application and then really take a hard look and see if you're ready to apply. But if you do, you will have the opportunity to tell your organization's story. You may be recognized for a successful practice or an award, and you also have compelling documentation that you can use on behalf of your organization in many different ways. So, now we are going back to Dawn for questions. >> Dawn Stitzel: Wonderful. Thank you, Susan and Karen and Loriene. I think you three together have provided a great overview. I wanted to mention just briefly, there's been a couple of mentions of the Special Response Award, and those were awards given in 2020 that were unique to 2020. So, that is not an award that we have in 2021. So, you should be focusing on the three that we discussed as well as the Successful Practice Honoree Award. And then the second point I wanted to emphasize is that as Karen mentioned, one of our award recipients commented that the true benefit of receiving the award is far greater than the actual monetary amount because you can used it as a building block to get more and more funding, and so, I just wanted to mention that. So, we can now turn to questions. >> Our organization has five literacy programs serving a range of ages from babies to adults. Do we have to apply as the parent organization or can we nominate one of our five programs? >> Dawn Stitzel: You would apply as the parent organization recommending that program within your organization. >> Our organization was founded in March of 2020. Would we be better suited as a Successful Practice Honoree? >> Dawn Stitzel: Thank you for that question. Again, you still have to apply for one of the three major prizes and then it's possible that you would be recognized, and you are a young organization, but you would have to go for one of the majors, and then it would be up to the judges whether your organization rose to be a Successful Practices Honoree. So, it's not something you can decide. >> In no way to dissuade this organization from applying, but we're off the Advisory Board and reviewers are often challenges when we have an organization that applies that is like super unique and interesting and innovative but the track record of the organization is pretty short, which would be your case. So, you might be considered for a Best Practice. I would suggest that you think, that you consider making the application but also think what it would be like if you even waited, you know, until next year, because I think, you know, being in existence for less than a year or barely a year when you apply, that's often a challenge for us because sustainability is in all these categories a very critical consideration. >> Approximately how many applications do you receive yearly for the American award? >> Karen M. Ristau: Two years ago we had 90, and last year, I think we had fewer than that, around 60. So, it varies. >> Can you speak or further define who might make good candidates for a reference [inaudible]. My program is volunteer based. Can a volunteer tutor provide a letter of reference? >> Karen M. Ristau: I would say anyone who can really speak to your program and what it does would be fine. We see everything from governors to kids in programs writing letters. And as long as it's, you know, is it clear and it speaks to the program, I think it's a good letter of recommendation. >> Susan H. Hildreth: This is Susan, I want to support Karen's answer there. I think an authentic letter where the individual, no matter who they may be, is speaking from the heart is very important. Some of the letters we get are frankly kind of canned, and also, as Karen mentioned previously, we also get letters that somebody wrote for a different award, and they haven't changed the name. So, I think authentic support of the program is really what we're looking for. >> How much weight are the reference letters given? >> Karen M. Ristau: I would say it's all of a piece. I think they're not, you know, I can't tell you that there's a specific weight. I look at the entire application, and those letters of reference are part of that. So, it's all of a piece. >> Susan H. Hildreth: This is Susan. I would agree. It's really the package. >> Is there anything in an application that is an automatic dismissal of it, such as reiterating information in categories. >> The organization have to be nonprofit. So, if an organization is not nonprofit, then they're automatically removed from the competition. >> Are public universities considered to be nonprofit? >> Yes. And on the application, we ask that people provide either their employee this year, either your employee identification number or a letter that proves that you're a nonprofit. >> Right. >> As long as you have that, then you're [inaudible]. >> If we are a previous honoree, what are the requirements to reapply? >> You would actually submit a new application, and the actual questions regarding reapplying can be found in our FAQ, and we'll list that link in just a minute, and you'll be able to see that. >> But also, we want to make sure everybody is aware that if you have applied and been awarded for a certain program, that's great. And you're welcome to reapply, but we would want to understand that you're applying for another suite of programs that you're providing, not the one you received the award for. >> If we've applied in the past but were not awarded a prize for a different program in our organization, are we considered reapplying or submitting a new application? >> As a judge for a number of rounds here, you know, every year we kind of have a fresh start. So, I wouldn't be too concerned about I applied and I didn't get it or I got a Best Practice or whatever. We really look at the suite of applications that we have each year as a whole new batch to review, and we're always excited to get all the wonderful applications and learn about the programs that are interested in these awards. >> Dawn Stitzel: For further information, then, as you sort of get into the application process and maybe have other questions that surface, please see the three links provided. The top one is our major, is our literacy awards website, and then the two links underneath can be found off of that, our website. The first one there is how to apply and all the information about applying, and then the third one down is about the FAQ. And as I mentioned earlier, you may always contact us at literacyawards@loc.gov, and we are really excited to see the wonderful that you all have been up to, and please do submit your applications, and we look forward to learning about all the wonderful things that you're doing. So, thank you very much and thank you to our three board members who have provided such interesting for us today. Thanks again.