NEWS RELEASE
CONTACT: Cathy Leiber
484-661-6151
www.judithsreadingroom.org
State College, PA Teacher Wins Literacy Award
The Delta Program’s Allison Lauded for Efforts to Teach ‘Advocacy to Teens’
April 10, 2024 — State College, Pennsylvania’s English teacher, Amy Allison, winner of the 2024 Judith’s Reading Room’s Freedom Through Literacy ‘Judith’s Award’ for her project titled, “Advocacy for Teens Class” was honored yesterday in front of her classroom at State College ASD’s Delta Program. Fellow teacher, Virginia Squier who nominated Allison, Superintendent Curtis Johnson and two members of the school board, Amy Bader and Deborah Anderson were present.
Amy Allison is presented with Judith’s Award by Judith’s Reading Room co-founder Scott Leiber
Judith’s Reading Room, a global 501 (c) 3 literacy organization, was founded in 2010 in the memory of Judith F. Krug, a distinguished librarian who served as Director, Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association for 40 years.
The Freedom Through Literacy Award, given annually since 2015, honors individual champions of literacy from around the world — teachers, librarians, authors, researchers, educators — who have done exemplary work to instill in others a love of reading. The ‘Judith’s Award’ specifically honors the applicant who best mirrors the intentions, the dreams, the insistence, the passion of Judith F. Krug. To date, $58,600 has been awarded to 71 champions of literacy from 18 countries, including 11 US states.
The judges selected Allison to win the ‘Judith’s Award’ for teaching teens how to engage in civic and cultural literacy by first learning about their local library as a foundation for how to advocate an issue. Krug’s life work and legacy includes Banned Books Week, established in 1982, that celebrates the First Amendment and draws attention to banned and challenged books.
Scott Leiber, Krug’s first cousin, spoke about her life-long dedication to advocating for the First Amendment especially as it affected her fellow librarians, who even at that time were subject to attack from those who disagreed that a certain book should be made available. Leiber likened the work of Allison to that of Krug saying, “like you, Judy was a remarkable leader in the struggle to educate the public and advocate for issues concerning the right to the free expression of ideas.”
Scott and Cathy Leiber, co-founders of Judith’s Reading Room, presented Allison with her trophy and cash prize of $1,500. Allison informed the gathering that the prize will be spent in support of a student-led advocacy project.
The mission of Judith’s Reading Room is to enrich lives and societies by proactively encouraging freedom through literacy. The organization has fulfilled that mission by establishing 106 libraries (and counting!) in 23 countries with over 133,000 books donated worth $1.4 million.
Applications for the 2025 Freedom Through Literacy Award will be available at www.judithsreadingroom.org beginning October 7, 2024. Deadline for Applications is February 3, 2025.
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