Community Story Award

Each summer amazing things happen all across the province of BC. Libraries start to implement the BC Summer Reading Club and creative ideas flow from Fort St. John to Sardis. There are parades, posters, picnics, parties, and programs, all specially designed to suit the needs of each community. The end result is a landscape of welcoming and encouraging environments where children have the opportunity to read for pleasure and to explore other worlds.

We do a great job of tracking statistics. Those numbers don’t tell us nearly enough about how SRC impacts you or your community. Stories are what move us, transform us. They speak to the heart of why we do what we do — and we’d like to hear your stories.

In 2013, BCLA, introduced the SRC Community Story Award in order to recognize and honour those stories. Each year, the BC Summer Reading Club will present this award to an individual whose story best demonstrates the impact of the SRC within their community.

Here are some ideas to get you started, but by all means feel free just to tell us your story:

• Describe a time when events at an SRC program left you feeling proud of yourself and your work.
• While chatting about his/her summer reading, have you ever met a child so in love with books, you were reminded of why you do this work? Tell us about that.
• Were you impressed with the way a parent or caregiver helped a child choose a book? Describe what you noticed and how it made you feel.
• When you tell your friends and family about your work and the SRC, what story do you tell?
• Has a parent or caregiver ever told you how participating in SRC has changed the way their child feels about books and reading? Describe what they said and how that made you feel?