By Sarah Polace
2009 Penguin Young Readers Group Award Winner 

I was very thankful to win the 2009 Penguin Young Readers Group Award which allowed me to attend the Annual Conference in Chicago. Without the award, I would never have had the opportunity to attend a professional conference so early in my career.

 My first conference experience was a very positive one.  My initial impression of the conference was that it was very well organized and I immediately felt comfortable participating.  I was completely surprised and impressed by the amount of people in attendance and the friendliness of those that I met throughout the conference.  The sessions that I attended at the conference were fantastic and gave me great ideas for programming and other services that I could implement at my library.  Some of the best programs I attended included the Booklist/Booklist Online Books and Blogs program, the Author’s Reader Theatre program and the Multiple Literacies in the Library program. 

I also really enjoyed exploring the expo floor to see what new and exciting products and services were available. In addition, it was great to see some of the new titles that would be published in the coming months.One of my favorite parts of the expo was meeting and chatting about library funding in Ohio with young adult author John Green. I was also able to meet many other authors and went home with several signed books. The highlight of the conference was attending the Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder banquet and sitting at the Penguin table with top Penguin editors and publishers as well as author Laurie Halse Anderson. In addition, it was amazing to see my name on the screen as one of the award winners. The winner’s speeches were fantastic and it was an honor to meet the authors in the receiving line following the program.  Winning the Penguin award and being able to attend my first conference was such an incredible opportunity.  My first conference experience gave me the desire to become more involved in the association and attend future conferences.

Posted by admin

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 8:55 am and is filed under Awards & Scholarships. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.