Maine Library Journalism Award

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The Maine Library Association initiated a new award in 1997, the Maine Library Journalism Award, to recognize the most outstanding print or broadcast stories about libraries in Maine within the last calendar year and to honor its Maine writer(s) or producer(s). The winner receives recognition at the Maine Libraries Conference each fall.

Selection Criteria

Nominations for the next Maine Library Journalism Award must have appeared in print or broadcast in the previous calendar year (2008). All formats including print (newspapers, magazines, journals); audiovisual (television, radio) and electronic media (websites) will be considered for selection. Selection of the winning media piece is based on originality, timeliness, and relevance to Maine libraries. Both second party and self-nominations are welcomed and encouraged. In order to give full recognition to Maine's journalists and keep the focus of the award on their important work, the authors must be individuals or groups not currently employed in the library profession.

Nominees for the 2009 Maine Library Journalism Award must have appeared in print or broadcast in the previous calendar year (2008). The nomination deadline is January 30, 2010. Please include one copy of the nominated piece with the nomination form. (You may submit nominations for next year's award at any time. The Journalism Award manager will see that nominations are put in the proper file.

Submit nomination form to:
Lisa Neal-Shaw
Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library
39 Second Street
Presque Isle, ME 04769
[email]  764-2571 / 2572

The panel of judges with diverse backgrounds to include:

• One person from the MLA Communications Committee
• MLA President or Past President
• One person with journalism experience

Past Maine Library Journalism Award Winners

The 2006 award was awarded to Tom Bell of the Portland Press Herald for his piece, "Racy fluff of reading aid?", which was printed in March of 2005.

The 2005 award was for the article "Libraries Oppose Proposed Tax Cap" by James Straub that appeared Thursday, September 2, 2004 in the Ellsworth American. The article did an excellent job to explain the problems which would confront libraries across the state if the Palesky tax plan passed. According to his editor, James' "strength has been in communicating the big picture," and that is precisely what he did with this article. Gathering comments from librarians in Blue Hill, Topsham, Augusta, Calais and Ellsworth, James presented the facts in a straight-forward manner which explained the negative consequences of the tax plan for Maine's library community.

The 2004 award was for "Calais library fights Patriot Act", a series of three articles by Diana Graettinger that appeared in the Bangor Daily News in April, 2003. These articles dealt with Marilyn Sotirellis' (Director, Calais Free Library) opposition to the USA Patriot Act by her support of the Freedom to Read Protection Act and her actions to share information about both acts with her library patrons. While there were other articles written that year which dealt with the USA Patriot Act, these articles were the first to tackle the subject and its possible impact on Maine's libraries.