2019 Carla Gray Memorial Scholarship for Emerging Bookseller-Activists

The Carla Gray Memorial Scholarship will be given annually to a single bookseller. The winning bookseller will be awarded a year-long scholarship for professional development, which includes: up to $1,000 to cover travel and hotel for attendance to Winter Institute, up to $1,000 to cover travel and hotel for attendance to regional tradeshow, and a stipend of up to $1,000 to fund a community outreach project for their store.
PURPOSE

• Support emerging booksellers and their efforts to make a difference in their communities.
• Provide a bookseller the opportunity to connect with other booksellers, publishers, and authors,
• Creation of a new, unique, and exciting project that can be replicated in other bookstores across the country.  The community outreach project should focus on three things: 1) finding new readers, 2) ensuring access to books that improve readers’ lives, and 3) integrating the bookstore more fully into their community.
• This scholarship and its recipients will celebrate and honor Carla’s boundless enthusiasm for the books themselves, her delight in pairing the right book with the right reader, her belief that establishing long-term relationships is what keeps this industry thriving, and her eternal faith in the bookselling community.

CRITERIA AND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

• Applicant has at least one year but fewer than 5 years of bookselling experience.
• Applicant is willing and able to commit one year to complete the requirements of the scholarship and intends to remain employed at the designated bookstore until the completion of the community outreach project.
• Applicant’s store meets the criteria of “bookstore” as defined by Binc policies. (Please email info@bincfoundation.org if you have a question about your store.)
• Applicant’s store is a member in good standing of the ABA and their regional trade association.
• Applicant is a regular part-time or full-time employee of a bookstore.
• A maximum of one scholarship will be awarded each year.
• Applicant may receive this scholarship only once in their tenure as a bookseller.
• A bookstore may receive this scholarship only once.
• Bookstore owner agrees to partner on the community outreach project.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE WINNER

• Provide quarterly reports on project progress.
• Final outcome report highlighting experience and project details.