Carlie Webber named winner of YALSA/Listening Library Audiobook contest
Contact: Nichole Gilbert
YALSA
312-280-4387
For Immediate Release
September 18, 2006
Carlie Webber named winner of YALSA/Listening Library Audiobook contest
CHICAGO - The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest growing division of the American Library Association (ALA), is pleased to announce that Carlie Webber, of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System in Hackensack, New Jersey, has won the opportunity to record a literacy message at the end of an audiobook, courtesy of Listening Library.
The contest, a part of
Reading with Your Ears - YALSA's preconference on audiobooks in New Orleans, involved participants recording a sample of an audiobook.
The recording samples were taken back to the Listening Library offices and judged by producers who work on audiobooks.
"Carlie's delivery is reminiscent of an actor who has found her true calling," said Dan Zitt, Listening Library's director of production who oversees all Random House, Books on Tape, and Listening Library recordings.
"The beauty of the spoken word."
Webber, and a friend, will fly to New York City where she will be recording the literacy message at the end of an audiobook and get to see the audiobook production world up close.
"We chose Carlie because of her bright, clear, and cheery presentation of the material," said Listening Library Executive Producer Orli Moscowitz, who produces many of today's top authors writing for teens, including J.K. Rowling, Jonathan Stroud, Eoin Colfer, Cornelia Funke, Meg Cabot, Kate DiCamillo, and Philip Pullman.
"She had an obvious connection with the literacy message that audiobooks help children improve their reading skills and foster a lifelong love of good stories."
Webber is the young adult services librarian for the Bergen County Cooperative Library System in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Currently, she is serving on YALSA's Publishers Liaison Committee and Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults committee, is the chair of the Humor list for 2007, and part of the nonfiction committee.
Outside of YALSA, Webber is active in the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA) Young Adult section, the chair of One Book New Jersey 2006 & 2007, and a reviewer for VOYA and Teenreads.com.
She contributed an article on "Harry Potter" to the Continuum Encyclopedia of Young Adult Literature and is currently working on a reader's advisory guide to GLBTQ YA lit.
"I was very excited to hear I had won!"
said Webber.
"I did some radio announcing work in high school and college and I'm glad to see that the skills I picked up didn't atrophy too much over the years.
I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to record this PSA and promote reading."
For nearly 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, videos, and audiobooks for teens.
For more information about these awards or for additional lists of recommended reading, go to
www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists.
For more information about YALSA, please contact us via e-mail,
yalsa@ala.org; or by phone at 1-800-545-2433 ext. 4390.
