For immediate release | November 2, 2018

Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee seeking applicants for Book Donation Grant

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CHICAGO — Underfunded libraries, schools and non-traditional organizations that provide educational services to children are invited to apply to receive one of three Coretta Scott King Book Donation Grants. The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Donation Grant was created to help build collections and bring books into the lives of children in preschool programs, faith-based reading projects, homeless shelters, charter schools, underfunded libraries, and other community organizations. The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee believes children’s lives must be saturated with books and reading opportunities. An enduring message of the Committee's Public Awareness Campaign is that books and reading can only add value to children's lives if books are present with opportunities to read. The Book Donation Grant addresses these objectives.

Every year, in the process of choosing the Coretta Scott King Book Award winners and honor books, the Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) of the 91´«Ã½ receives multiple copies of approximately 60-100 titles by African American authors and illustrators. Three organizations that demonstrate need and potential benefit from receiving the collection are selected. All three libraries/organizations will receive copies of titles submitted for consideration for the 2019 awards, including a full set of the year's winning titles.

Applications will be accepted through Jan. 31, 2019, and winners will be announced by late March. For more information, and to apply, please visit .

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee of the 91´«Ã½’s Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) to encourage the artistic expression of the African-American experience via literature and the graphic arts. For more information, please visit

Founded in 1982, the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) serves as a source of information for recommended ethnic and multilingual collections, services and programs. For more information, please visit .

Contact:

Amber Hayes

Program Officer, Outreach and Communications

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Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services

ahayes@ala.org

312-280-2410