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CHICAGO —The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is excited to announce the generous sponsorship of its by longtime YALSA member, Marney Welmers.

The recognizes a member who has demonstrated significant, unique and sustained devotion to young adult services through substantial work across the trajectory of their career.

“A former teacher and librarian myself, I believe in young adults passionately and admire profoundly those who serve them,” said Welmers. “I know that our adolescents love, and live in, a world of social media, but I also know that they crave, seek, and need more solid sources of understanding, truth, community, identity, and validation. Those individuals who facilitate the teens’ quests by introducing them to the vast universe of literature that speaks directly to them are very special indeed. Through their knowledge, enthusiasm, empathy, and dedication, they craft programs, advisories, outreach, community, opportunity, and discovery that lead teens to know and grow. This award recognizes the achievements of that special group of mentors who are so very important to the young people they love and serve.”

Following graduation from Swarthmore College (1963), Welmers turned to the world of education and spent (perhaps too) many years teaching, from the days of clay tablets to Chrome books. She worked at many levels, teaching language arts to math, until she finally found her true home as a middle school librarian and earned her degree from the University of Arizona. Since then, she has chaired and served on Arizona's teen and tween book award committees, YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults and Excellence in Nonfiction committees, and currently on the Schneider committee.

The $2,000 award is given out every two years to one recipient, generously sponsored by Marney Welmers. Applications are due December 1 during odd-numbered years and is awarded the following year. The application for the next award year will open in 2019. more.

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to , or contact the YALSA office by phone, 800-545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail: yalsa@ala.org.