Libraries & Families Award: Apply Now!

Posted by John on 06.25.2010 at 12:04 pm

Applications being accepted for $30,000 in library grants

Better World Books and the National Center for Family Literacy are teaming up again this year to provide grants for libraries with exceptional family programming.

Applications are now being accepted for the Better World Books/NCFL Libraries and Families Award. You can get more information and apply at online at http://www.famlit.org/BWB-library-award.  Applications are due by Nov. 12, 2010.

NCFL anticipates awarding three $10,000 grant awards– one in each of the following three categories:

1) Local Friends of the Library programs
2) Public/academic libraries
3) Urban libraries

In addition, award recipients will receive scholarships to attend the National Conference on Family Literacy.

Last year’s winners are doing amazing things!  Learn more about them here!

This will be the second year of the award and the latest partnership effort between our organizations, which together have raised more than $555,000 for NCFL’s programming since 2005.

Have your say » | Tagged Company News, Contests, Impact, Our Partners, Libraries and Families Award, National Center for Family Literacy, NCFL

Want Free Books for a Year?

Posted by Dana on 06.22.2010 at 3:32 pm

Update 7/8/2010:  The 2010 contest is over.  Congrats to this years’ winners!

GRAND PRIZE WINNERS:
Lynne G from South Bend, IN (Facebook) and  @ilanastein from Johannesburg, South Africa (Twitter)

SECOND PRIZE WINNERS:
From Twitter:  @sweepscat713 – San Jose, CA, @akritical – Charlottesville, VA, @canaryred – Baltimore, MD, @synical – Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, @dianadoll – Coarsegold, CA, @kkhoulden – Oak Ridge, NC, @jseniar – Enfield, NH, @rikostan – Rose, NY, @cmizerski – St. Clair Shores, MI.

And From Facebook: Desiy L. – Burnaby, Canada, Lydia S. – Jacksonville, FL, Jessica K. – Chantily, VA, Holly C. – Effort, PA, Meghan M. – Fridley, MN, Paulina A. – Bali, Indonesia, Kristen L. – Sanford, FL, Kimm G. – Ontario, Canada, Naga C. – Bangalore, India.

It’s back… the Better World Books “Year of Books” contest is back and better than ever!

How is it better, you ask?

1.  Well first of all it starts today, whereas last year’s contest is over.

2.  This year there will be 2 grand prize winners compared with only 1 lonely winner last year.  That’s twice the winners!  These lucky ducks will not only get a year of books, but they will also get a snazzy Better World Books t-shirt AND a fabulous Better World Books tote bag.

3.  But wait, there’s more… last year we had 9 second place winners… this year we’re doubling the fun and giving a whopping 18 second prizes which consist of one $10 Better World Books gift certificate, the snazzy BWB shirt and the fab BWB tote.

“Enough,” you may say, “I’m in. Now how the heck do I enter?”   Well this year we’re all about more.  Last year there was only one way to enter… this year there are two:

1. Follow Better World Books on Twitter and then click this link or copy and paste the following message to your Twitter followers to enter: “I just entered the @BWBooks ‘Year of Books’ Contest. I can win a year’s supply of books! (http://bit.ly/bwbyearofbooks) #bwbcontest”

2. Like Better World Books on Facebook and enter the Year of Books Sweepstakes. Fill out the required form and share the contest entry with your friends with the following message: “I just entered the Better World Books ‘Year of Books’ Contest. I can win a year’s supply of books!”  And guess what, for every friend you tell on Facebook that enters, you get an extra entry.

Have questions?  Need more info?  Check out our FAQ and the Terms & Conditions.

What are you still doing here?  Go enter.  The contest starts today – but you only have until the end of June to enter!

Good luck!  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this is your lucky year!  Okay go… go already!

66 Comments » | Tagged Contests, bwbcontest, facebook, twitter, year of books

For the Love of Reading

Posted by admin on 02.11.2010 at 1:39 pm

In today’s post, David Murphy talks about his recent experience reading to kids as part of the Ferst Foundation’s CEO Challenge:  For the Love of Reading.  The challenge was for Georgia business and community leaders to take time out of their busy schedules to read to kids.  The idea behind the challenge is to highlight the importance of childhood literacy.  Check out what David had to say about the experience and don’t forget to vote!

**UPDATE – FEBRUARY 19TH, 2010 – PLEASE NOTE – VOTING HAS ENDED**

I get asked a lot of questions about our mission, our business model and our industry, so it was certainly refreshing on a cold, crisp morning this past January to have someone ask “Why literacy for children?  Why focus our literacy efforts on them?  Why do you value reading and literacy efforts for children?”  You can hear some of my thoughts on this in a video that was recently produced to help support childhood literacy efforts here in the state of Georgia.

That day, I joined a group of Georgia based CEO’s and university presidents in a friendly competition to draw attention to childhood literacy efforts and had a great experience.  I went to Premier Academy where I met with Gladys Gore, her staff and about twenty or so four year-olds for whom I had the pleasure of reading several books. Read more…

1 Comment » | Tagged Company News, Contests, Impact, david murphy, Ferst Foundation, For the Love of Reading, Vote

Vote for BWB in the Pepsi Refresh Project

Posted by admin on 02.10.2010 at 4:41 pm

We’ve partnered with the National Center for Family Literacy on an awesome new literacy project.  Your vote will help us get the funding and you can vote once a day from now until February 28th.

Here’s the short version of the plan:

We get a bio-diesel book mobile and drive it around the country distributing 1 million kids’ books to those who need ‘em most.

The goals of the project are:
* Hold literacy events in at least 200 communities.
* Get families reading and learning together.
* Help struggling schools raise money.
* Promote family literacy with the National Center for Family Literacy
* Get 1 Million Children’s Books in the hands of kids nationwide.

Check out the video from Xavier with some more of the details:

Vote Now!

1 Comment » | Tagged Company News, Contests, Bio-diesel Bookmobile, National Center for Family Literacy, Pepsi Refresh Project

Invisible Children Needs Your Vote!

Posted by admin on 01.19.2010 at 9:30 am

Chase Bank is giving away $5 million to various charities through its Community Giving program and our partner Invisible Children is in the running.    Check out the video to see how they’ll use the money!

Cast your vote AND help spread the word.

1 Comment » | Tagged Contests, Impact, Our Partners, Chase Community Giving, invisible children, Invisible Children Video

Win Free Books for a Year

Posted by Tommy on 07.29.2009 at 12:18 pm

(Update 8-11-2009: Congratulations to @rotemu, our first place winner! Enjoy your Year of Books!)
(Update 8-12-2009: Congratulations to our 2nd place winners: @whendrinksmix, @gabbytmb, @45thParallelism, @Calig_Kela, @fartsyarts, @TsarLeo, @Nimue23, @kinfolknews, and @ygor!)

The Year of Books contest begins today!  Here’s how to enter: Read more…

128 Comments » | Tagged Contests, bwbcontest, contest, twitter, year of books