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. It was also planned as a joint award between the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) School Libraries Group and the School Library Association (SLA) in order to make it as inclusive as possible and to engender collaboration between the organisations.

​

This amazing award has been made possible with the support of many people, including the CILIP SLG and the SLA, all of our previous sponsors, 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. You can find out about previous awards, shortlists, and winners by following the links to each year below, or check out the Gallery. 

​