Guest Post – Triple Crown Awards – Amy McGohan, MLIS

With school starting you may be looking for ways to promote reading in your school. When I was in the library – I was always looking for awards I could promote. I wish I had been aware of this one. The Triple Crown Awards is one I would have promoted.

I want to thank Amy McGohon for joining us today on the blog to tell us more about The Triple Crown Awards.

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In 1992, a Christian school librarian named Sandra Morrow had an idea. She wanted the students at her school to be able to participate in a book award program but felt the content in some of the books chosen for her state award program were inappropriate for a Christian school setting. She applied to the Texas Christian Schools Association for a grant to establish a new book awards program, and thus, the Triple Crown Awards was born. The mission of the Triple Crown Awards is to encourage elementary and junior high students to read wholesome and uplifting books by providing lists each year of the best literature. Sandra worked tirelessly to fulfill this mission until her retirement in 2016. At that time, the administration of the awards was transferred to Brackett Library at Harding University. We are honored to continue Sandra’s important work and help school librarians introduce wholesome, uplifting books to their students. Students love being able to read books from our lists and have the opportunity to vote for an award winner.

So how does it work?

1. NOMINATIONS – Students, teachers, parents, librarians, and other interested individuals nominate books that have been published in the current calendar year.

2. READING LISTS – After a reviewing process, reading lists are developed and sent to participating schools. Students read some or all of the books on the list. Some schools offer incentives (such as medals or certificates) to their students for reading a specific number of books. Every school is allowed to run the reading process in the way they think best for their school.

3. VOTING – Students vote for their favorite book. Many schools host ballot parties that emphasize the purpose and privilege of voting. The Triple Crown administrator from each school then submits ballot counts online through the member’s dashboard. A username and password are provided with membership.

4. AWARDS – After the votes are tallied, the winning books and runners-up are announced to authors, publishers, and participating schools.

Membership information

School libraries throughout the nation are joining the Triple Crown Awards by purchasing a school membership. Membership supports the Triple Crown Awards and also includes supplies to help administer the awards at your school. Every year members are sent book spine labels to easily identify the books on the shelves, a set of winner and honor seals, and a poster to display in your library. If you are interested in supporting our mission and starting the awards program at your school please visit https://www.triplecrownawards.org/participation to register!

Amy McGohan

Brackett Library

Triple Crown Awards Administrator

Thank you so much, Amy, for sharing this information with us.

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You can purchase books at: (affiliate links)

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If you are an avid reader, you need to check out Totally Booked: A Book Lover’s Companion. Totally Booked, a companion reading journal from The Mosaic Collection, is perfect for book lovers. As a paperback, Totally Booked travels easily and is a charming gift for mothers, sisters, girlfriends, book lovers, avid readers, book club members, influencers, bloggers, and book reviewers (description from Amazon).

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