Judith’s Reading Room Names 2026 Recipients of its Signature
“The Judith’s Award”
2026 Winners Hail from Pennsylvania and Texas
March 30, 2026 — Judith’s Reading Room, a 501 (c) 3 literacy organization founded in 2010 announced the first recipients of the 2026 “The Judith’s Award” that today specifically honors teachers, authors and librarians in the United States. “The Judith’s Award” — the organization’s signature award was established in 2019 when the first recipient, Vicky Xanthopoulous, an elementary school teacher from Potamia, North Greece won.
Today, Judith’s Reading Room honors Ms. Barbara Miller, a kindergarten teacher at Willow Creek Elementary School in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania for her passion to create meaningful opportunities for students to engage with letters, sounds and text every day. The judges were struck by the wonderful things the kindergarten parents had to say about her impact on their children’s lives. Ms. Miller is awarded $500 for instilling in young students a love of reading.
Also named winner of the 2026 “The Judith’s Award” is Ms. Shantel Patt, an author and teacher with 14 years of classroom experience from Mesquite, Texas. Ms. Patt’s book, Class Is In Session: Teaching Through the Chaos encourages preservice teachers and educators to read by offering experience-based stories from the classroom. Untold thousands of children will benefit from her book. The judges were impressed by her commitment to collaborate with schools and districts across Texas. Ms. Patt is awarded $1,000 for supporting teacher learning and development.
“Without authors we wouldn’t have books. Without great teachers, reluctant readers — sure that they were not smart enough — would continue to fall behind their peers. Without librarians trained to find the perfect book, kids might go through life saying they didn’t like to read because they never ‘met’ the perfect book. Judith’s Reading Room salutes authors, teachers and librarians with “The Judith’s Award,” said Cathy Leiber, co-founder, Judith’s Reading Room.
Judith’s Reading Room was founded in 2010 in the memory of Judith F. Krug, a distinguished librarian and first-cousin to the founders. In Judy’s memory, Judith’s Reading Room has offered countless literacy awards including The Freedom Through Literacy Awards and The Judith’s Awards.
Judith’s Reading Room’s mission is to “enrich lives and societies by proactively encouraging freedom through literacy.” To date, that mission has been met by establishing 117 libraries in 28 countries with 136,042 books donated worth $1,461,871 serving tens of thousands of children without access to books.
To learn more about Judith’s Reading Room, visit www.judithsreadingroom.org where you will also find the Application for the 2026 “The Judith’s Award.”
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