Mora Award: Reforming Bilingual Literacy

Awards & Recognitions

-- Críticas, 11/15/2005

The REFORMA of Utah, in Salt Lake City, has won this year's Estela and Raúl Mora Award for its Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros (Day of the Child/Day of the Books) program. Created by writer Pat Mora and her three siblings in honor of their parents, the award promotes bilingual literacy and reading. Contestants are judged on the quality of their program and their success in reaching the target audience; the involvement of partnering organizations; the change in activities from the previous year; and the quality of publicity. This year, REFORMA of Utah's extensive program included a Spanish- and English-language book giveaway, bilingual storytelling, story writing, face-painting, Mexican paper flower making, and entertainment from Latino artists and performers. The prize consists of a plaque and a $1,000 stipend, which, according to Melanie Tucker, the youth services librarian at the Salt Lake County Library System, is intended to "bring in a Latino/a children's author or poet and purchase more Spanish and/or bilingual children's books to give away, since literacy begins at home." Previous recipients of the Mora Award include the Multnomah County PL (2002) and the Corvallis-Benton County PL in Oregon (2003), and the Providence PL (2004) in Rhode Island.