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CHICAGO — Applications for the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) 2015 awards season are now available using AASL’s . AASL members are encouraged to nominate a colleague or themselves to be lauded for their outstanding talent and dedication to the profession as part of this prestigious program. AASL awards and grants recognize excellence and showcase best practices in the school library field in categories that include collaboration, leadership and innovation.

Applications are now open for:

• the , $10,000 and a crystal obelisk, sponsored by Follett, recognizes a school library program that meets the needs of the changing school and library environment and are fully integrated into the school's curriculum;
• the , $3,000, sponsored by Baker & Taylor, which recognizes an individual member of the library profession who has, over a significant period of time, made an outstanding national contribution to school librarianship and school library development;
• the , up to $1,750, sponsored by ABC-CLIO, which is given to school library associations that are AASL affiliates for planning and implementing leadership programs at the state, regional or local levels;
• the , $2,500, sponsored by Upstart, which recognizes and encourages collaboration and partnerships between school librarians and teachers in meeting goals outlined in “Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs” through joint planning of a program, unit or event in support of the curriculum and using media center resources;
• the , $2,000, sponsored by ProQuest, which is given to 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;
• the , $1,250, sponsored by ABC-CLIO, which enables a school librarian with five or fewer years in the field to attend an 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference or AASL National Conference for the first time;
• the , $1,000 to the school librarian and $500 to the library, sponsored by Follett, which recognizes and honors a school librarian who demonstrates vision and leadership through the use of information technology to build lifelong learners - there are two categories: Elementary and Secondary;
• the , $2,500, sponsored by Capstone, which is designed to fund literacy projects for grades K-9 that promote the importance of reading and facilitate literacy development by supporting current reading research, practice and policy;
• the , $2,000 to the winner and $1,000 to the school library of the winner’s choice, sponsored by ProQuest, which is given for upholding the principles of intellectual freedom as set forth by AASL and the 91´«Ã½.
• the , $2,000, a $5,000 book donation from and up to $1,000 in reimbursement towards travel and housing to attend the AASL awards presentation at the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference; sponsored by Penguin Random House, the award recognizes AASL members who have collaboratively designed a lesson, event, or course of study on social justice exemplified by a character from Roald Dahl’s books.

Applications for the National School Library Program of the Year are due Jan. 1, 2015. All other applications or nominations are due Feb. 1, 2015. All applications will close at 4:30 p.m. CST on the day of the deadline.

Applicants are encouraged to read all award and grant criteria on the before applying. Rating sheets are provided to give applicants an understanding of the items the award committee will use to base their scores. Questions about the application process should be directed to Jonna Ashley at jashley@ala.org.

The American Association of School Librarians, , a division of the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½), empowers leaders to transform teaching and learning.