For Immediate Release October 17, 2006
Contact: Ruth Rose Hennessey
Youth Services Librarian
Corvallis-Benton County Public Library
645 NW Monroe St.
Corvallis, Oregon 97333
541-766-6794
ruth.hennessey@ci.corvallis.or.us
Kenton County Public Library on behalf of the El Día Committee of Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati Wins 2006 Estela & Raúl Mora Award
REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, is pleased to announce that Kenton County Public Library on behalf of the El Día Committee of Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati, has been selected as winner of the 2006 Estela and Raúl Mora Award promoting participation in the celebration of Día de los Niños/ Día de los Libros (Day of the Children/ Day of the Books). The award is donated by writer Pat Mora and her three siblings in honor of their parents and was established to honor children, promote bilingual literacy and encourage reading among all children. The winner will receive $1,000 plus a plaque to be donated by the Mora grandchildren. The stipend and plaque have been awarded annually since 2000 to the school, library or community organization that sponsors the most exemplary celebration. Previous recipients are Austin Public Library (2000), El Paso Public Library (2001), Multnomah County Public Library, Oregon (2002), and Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, Oregon (2003), Providence Public Library, Rhode Island (2004), REFORMA de Utah (2005).
Contestants for the Mora Award are judged on several different aspects of their Día de los Niños/ Día de los Libros programs: quality of their program, encouragement of bilingual or multilingual literacy, and successfulness in reaching their target audience; involvement of partnering organizations; change in level of activity over the previous years (or, for first year celebrations, the level of activity in its own right); and quality of publicity. In addition, the committee considers what impact the award would have on next year’s Día de los Niños/ Día de los Libros program.
The program of the El Día Committee of Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati was presented in multiple public library systems and schools across the region. Over 2,000 children and adults in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati enjoyed a week of bilingual literacy activities. The final event was a major literacy fiesta including continuous bilingual storytime, crafts, music, dancing, piñatas, cascarones, and free books for all children. Award winning poet Francisco X. Alarcón, from the University of California, Davis, was the featured author for all El Día activities. Señor Alarcón participated in 11 literacy events from Tuesday, April 25, through Sunday, April 30, including public appearances at schools and libraries. Señor Alarcón also met with several new immigrant children and adults who created a book of bilingual (Spanish/English) poetry to share with Alarcón during El Día week.
Partners in the El Día Committee of Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati week long celebration impressively included the collaboration four public library systems, four literacy centers, four schools and a university. Señor Alarcón made a total of nine presentations to promote bilingual literacy, and also had a special time with the local families who produced their own book of bilingual poetry. Committee Chair, Ruth Rose Hennessey, believes that “this is the first multi-state celebration which involved so many different library systems”. The El Día Committee of Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati also recognized the multilingual heritage of their area, and presented El Día storytimes in six languages. With the award money, the partnering organizations of Kenton County Public Library on behalf of the El Día Committee of Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati will expand next year’s program to include another state and increase the amount of publicity for this multilingual literacy event.
The applicants for this year’s Mora award were again from all over the United States. They ranged from inspiring first time events like that of Pasco County, Florida to the elementary school in Chicago, Illinois. The celebration at Riverside County, California had impressively included multiple author visits and had very effective publicity.
The children and families of the USA are fortunate indeed to have so many wonderful opportunities to celebrate bilingual literacy through El Día de los Niños / El Día de los Libros (Children’s Day/Book Day). April 30, 2007 is the eleventh anniversary of this important movement to honor and spread book joy for all children and their families in every language.
The $1,000 stipend and plaque for the Mora Award will be formally presented to Kenton County Public Library at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference in Seattle, WA, January 19-24, 2007. The 2006 Mora Award Committee was comprised of Ruth Rose Hennessey, Chair, Youth Services Librarian, Corvallis-Benton County Public Library OR; Roberto Zapata, Manager, Flores Neighborhood Library, Houston Public Library TX; Ken Ayala Gollersrud, Teen/ Adult Librarian, Seattle Public Library; Robin Imperial, Information Services Librarian, Bordeaux Branch, Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center NC; Tammy Pineda, MLIS student, UW-Madison WI. For more information about the Mora Award, see the web site of REFORMA: http://www.reforma.org.
Return to main Día page.
