Book Award Committees

South Carolina Book Awards

Book Award Page for

• Voting information and Previous Winners
• Banner Guidelines

SC Book Award Committee Member Application

Function: The Book Award Committees are tasked with annually formulating the SCASL Book Award Program nominee book lists.

In order to accomplish this they must each read 100-250 titles each year which are then discussed and evaluated at regular meetings. It is their efforts which afford you each year’s carefully selected reading list in each category: picture books, children, junior, and young adult. Media specialists, teachers, and students owe them a big vote of thanks!

Composition: The Book Award Committee has an Executive Board Representative/Chairperson to oversee all award levels as well as Chair and Vice Chair positions for each award (Children’s, Picture, Junior, and Young Adult).  Each of  the Book Award Committees are made up of a cross section of media specialists, teachers, students, parents, administrators, public librarians, and college or university representatives.

Chairperson: The Book Award Committee Chairperson (Executive Board Representative) is selected by the SCASL President.

Meetings: The Book Award Committees meet five times a year: May, August, October, December, and March (at the SCASL Annual Conference).

The first meeting will be held at Meadow Glen Elementary School, 510
Ginny Lane,Lexington SC 29072.

The rest of the meetings will be at Lugoff Elgin Middle School, 1244
Hwy. 1 S, Lugoff, SC 29078

2013-2014 Dates for the meetings are:
May 4
August 24
October 12
December 7

The meetings start at 10:00 am and usually last for about 2 hours. The
December meeting sometime goes longer because it is the final meeting.

Duties: See the Book Awards Handbook for a complete list of duties and responsibilities for all levels and positions of the Book Award Committees.  A few of the duties/responsibilities for book award committee members include:

• attend five Columbia-area meetings a each year.
• attend the SCASL conference, be present at the appropriate booktalk sessions, and work in the Book Award section of the conference store.
• submit twelve book titles for the next year’s consideration list along with at least two positive book reviews on each from reputable reviewing sources.
• read the books on the list of books under consideration (between 100 – 250 titles depending upon the committee you serve) to narrow the list down to the top 20 best titles.
• assist in the creation of an online activity guide and podcasts for your committees nominees.
• present a booktalk for at least one book at the annual SCASL conference.

2012-13 Book Award Committee Chair, Diane Geddings

Updated: 18 April 2013