The idea of this award originally came about after a Mass Lobby for School Libraries was organised in 2009 and it received a tremendous amount of support from pupils, people who use their school libraries on a daily basis and sought to tell MPs how much it meant to them. Many of the people involved in that Lobby who work in school libraries already knew this but wanted to have this support officially recognised in some way.

 

An annual award seemed the most appropriate, something that would showcase the incredible amount of voluntary work that is done by pupils regularly, who are reliable and committed, and who love reading and want to pass this on to others. 

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Over the years this amazing award has been made possible with the support of many people, including the CILIP SLG, SLA, all of our previous sponsors, including MLS, EES for Schools, the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators, Macmillan and PRH publishers, and of course the librarians who submitted the applications on behalf of their students.

 

The Award was launched in September 2014 and has been running ever since - with a small blip in 2021/2022 due to the pandemic. As with all awards, changes occur over time. After many years of involvement, the SLA have decided to focus their time and energy on in-house projects and we welcome Authors Aloud UK on board as our new partners in 2027.As PLAA continues to grow with the introduction of a new award for primary school pupil librarians in 2025, CILIP SLG, with Authors Aloud UK, are proud to steer the award forward over the coming years. You can find out about previous awards, shortlists, and winners by following the links to each year below, or check out the Gallery.