Library of Congress Literacy Awards

Through the generosity of philanthropist David M. Rubenstein, the Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program honors nonprofit organizations that have made outstanding contributions to increasing literacy in the United States or abroad. The awards also encourage the continuing development of innovative methods for promoting literacy and the wide dissemination of the most effective practices. They are intended to draw public attention to the importance of literacy, and the need to promote literacy and encourage reading.

Since 2013, the Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program has awarded $2,247,250 million in prizes to 136 institutions in 36 countries. By recognizing current achievements, the awards seek to enable any organization or program that does not operate on a for-profit basis to strengthen its involvement in literacy and reading promotion and to encourage collaboration with like-minded organizations.

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Judy Koch: Bringing high-quality books to all children

For a woman who continues to insist that she “never wanted a career,” Judy Koch has taken some surprising turns in her life. After spending a decade helping her husband run their family-owned sheet metal company, the couple decided to divorce in 1989. At the time, Koch thought to herself, “‘I never really wanted a career anyway — now I can stay home and be a full-time mother to two teenage boys.'” But, inexplicably, she ended up buying her husband out of the business, which she “never had any intention of doing,” she insists.

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