Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity

Shelf Awareness

Earlier this week, at ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia, the American Library Association Council approved the new Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity.

The award will be presented annually at the ALA conference to a librarian who "has faced adversity with integrity and dignity intact." Lemony Snicket claims that the $3,000 prize will be given from his "disreputable gains, along with an odd, symbolic object from his private stash, as well as a certificate, which may or may not be suitable for framing."

According to Snicket, it is his hope that "the Snicket Prize will remind readers everywhere of the joyous importance of librarians and the trouble that is all too frequently unleashed upon them." The award jury will consist of a chair and four members--at least one member from any of the youth divisions (ALSC, AASL, YALSA) and at least one member from the Intellectual Freedom Committee or the Intellectual Freedom Round Table.

The deadline to nominate a librarian is May 1, 2014. In subsequent years, the deadline will be December 1. The application must include a narrative describing the adverse incident the librarian faced and a description of their response, result and resources utilized; name and contact information; name and contact information of the nominator. For more information about the award, including how to nominate candidates, visit www.ala.org/awardsgrants/lemony-snicket.

Daniel Handler, standing in for Lemony Snicket, first proclaimed his admiration for librarians in a song with Maira Kalman that includes the refrain, "Libraries are our friends,/ We should take care of them/ Because without libraries we'd be d-u-m." About his sponsorship of the award, Snicket said, "This seems like a better way to channel money to librarians than my previous strategy, which was incurring exorbitant late fees."