The Universal Reading Foundation becomes the first Polish organization to be honored with the Library of Congress Literacy Award - News - The National Library

The Library of Congress Literacy Awards have been held for twelve years, and identify, through a precise selection process, organizations that can prove that they have a track record of extraordinary contributions to improving reading in the United States or around the world. The gala ceremony for this year's awards will be held on October 30 this year at the US Congress in Washington, DC.

I’m pleased to announce that the Universal Reading Foundation receives the U.S. Library of Congress 2024 Literacy Award for Successful Practices. The award recognizes the achievements of your organization in the field of reading promotion, development of innovative methods and practices in this field. In particular, we appreciate the Universal Reading Foundation's work in the area of increasing reading among refugee communities, families of lower economic status and with lower reading skills, and providing these communities with activities and materials appropriate to their needs. - underlined Carla Hayden, Director of the U.S. Library of Congress, in a congratulatory letter to the Foundation.

Today, Poles read little - 43% of adult Polish citizens reach for a minimum of one book a year, and only 7% of Poles read more than 7 books. These results need to be improved urgently: reading is the fundament of education & innovation, health & wellbeing, civil society and democracy. True social inclusion and real participation is not possible without reading and literacy competences.

• Therefore, the URF implements strategic actions at several levels of influence.
• helps excluded children - provides books to those who don't have them;
• supports parents - shows how reading changes the future of their children;
• trains leaders - trains mechanisms to encourage reading, passes on knowledge;
• conducts analytical and research work - builds an environment of conscious leaders to change the reading landscape in Poland.

We are extremely pleased, but at the same time we want to emphasize very strongly that we would not have received this award if it were not for a big group of wonderful people, organizations and institutions that support and cooperate with us. So we thank everyone and celebrate together! - says Maria Deskur, the president of the Universal Reading Foundation.

The Universal Reading Foundation was founded in 2018 by publishers competing in the market. The URF's charter commits its board of directors to work for reading in accordance with the following values: apolitical, open to collaboration, evidence based, focus on scale to achieve change, and judicious stewardship of resources. From the beginning, the Foundation has worked to spread reading, through which it eliminates social exclusion - because non-reading is a social problem. URF's vision is that every Polish child should be able to realize his or her full potential and have equal educational opportunities, and regular contact with books has a huge impact on this.

When we persuaded colleagues from the book industry to set up a foundation six years ago, none of us dreamed that our activities would be recognized by the US Library of Congress. By the way, one of the first recipients of the award was Reach Out and Read, an organization that has been a great inspiration to us from the beginning, and whose co-founder Professor Barry Zuckerman today is one of the members of our Board of Trustees. Such an award is, of course, a powerful motivator to keep going. Now it is necessary to reach this level every day. – adds the member of the board of the URF, Grzegorz Majerowicz.

Organizations nominated for the award must write a series of short essays answering very specific, sometimes detailed questions: What are the goals and methods of the nominated organization? What reading competencies does the organization promote to achieve its goals?,

What role does the community of which the organization is a part play in the programs? What are the good reading practices that the organization can boast of?
Nominees are also asked to describe their organization in terms of precisely defined evaluation criteria, these are: innovation, organizational stability, scalability and openness of programs to other organizations, research-based activities, measurability of results and responsiveness to audience needs.

Writing our application was a surprising experience, a bit like a coaching without a coach - we answered a decidedly great set of questions that make a person think about his or her actions, rethink foundations, goals, target groups, adequacy of methods and operational effectiveness. The Library of Congress evaluates innovation and awareness of research and challenges around reading, but also how well the organization being evaluated can sustain itself and make a real difference in this area. This professionalism in evaluating candidates is impressive. - Maria Deskur emphasizes.

Since 2021, the Universal Reading Foundation has been co-leading the strategic work of the Reading Poland Coalition, an informal association of organizations ready to work together for reading in Poland. We are extremely pleased that the Polish organization has been recognized and appreciated by the Library of Congress. This is a great signal that the activities we are undertaking with a whole host of cooperating organizations are on a world level: that what we are doing makes sense; it is worth continuing. Knowing that we are on the right path gives a lot - both to us and to our partners. It is a signal that we are moving in the right direction, towards our goal of raising the readership in Poland to 70%. - concludes the URF’s board member Katarzyna Konopka.

Reading is an essential factor in Poland's development. Regular contact with books positively influences the linguistic, emotional and social development of individuals and societies. It facilitates the attainment of school readiness, reduces aggressive tendencies, and enables harmonious personality development. By supporting reading, we are building the foundation for the life success of individual children, as well as supporting the emergence of an informed and inclusive civil society. The Universal Reading Foundation is open to collaboration, and can be supported through GlobalGiving.com.