Swap & Shop Best of Show Winners announced

For Immediate Release


July 15, 2008

Swap & Shop Best of Show Winners announced

CHICAGO - The Swap & Shop Committee of the Public Relations and Marketing section of the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 Best of Show awards. The awards recognize the best library public relations and marketing materials from the previous year, across 12 material types and four budget categories.

This year’s list of winners, recognized during the “Swap & Shop 2008: Hot Ideas for Cool PR!” program at ALA Annual on Sunday, June 29, in Anaheim, Calif., included a remarkable seven-time recipient, plus several other multiple winners.

The Best of Show awards recognized Burlingame (Calif.) Public Library seven times, including 6 best of shows in: Adult and Family Reading Materials; Calendars of Events/Newsletters; Children’s Reading Club Materials; Special Programs and Events Fundraising Materials; Special Programs and Events; Young Adult Reading Club materials and one honorable mention, Printed Materials Promoting Web sites.

• In the $6 million and above budget category, the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library and the Enoch Pratt Free Library (Baltimore) each captured three awards, including sweeps of the Calendars of Events/Newsletters category (best of show to Brooklyn; honorable mention to Enoch Pratt) and Services Available/Orientation Materials/Policy Materials category (best of show to Enoch Pratt; honorable mention to Brooklyn).
• In the $2 million to $6 million category, Shaker Heights (Ohio) Public Library was recognized three times (best of show for Bibliographies and Booklists and Children’s Reading Club Materials; honorable mention for Fundraising Materials).
• In the $500,000 to $2 million category, Baxter County Library (Mountain Home, Ark.) and the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library of Texas Tech University (Lubbock, Texas) each captured two awards.

The Best of Show awards also showcased two new video categories in 2008, one for videos 30 seconds and under, and one for videos 31 seconds to 5 minutes. Ann Arbor (Mich.) District Library, Lawrence (Kan.) High School Library, Bedford (Texas) Public Library, and West Orange (N.J.) Public Library received the inaugural Best of Show honors in these categories.

The three judges, a department store public relations specialist, an art center marketing specialist and a library director, selected the winners from nearly 400 entries on the basis of content, originality, design, format and effectiveness. A complete list of winners is available at:
http://www.lama.ala.org/lamawiki/images/3/34/2008_bos_winner_handout.pdf. Lists of winners from previous years are also available, at
http://www.lama.ala.org/lamawiki/index.php?title=Best_of_Show_awards. Samples of winning materials will soon be available to view online.

The call for entries for the 2009 Best of Show competition will be issued in February, so be sure to save your best materials from this year for entry. If you have any questions about Swap & Shop or the Best of Show competition, please contact 2008-09 Swap & Shop chair Sally Lederer at
sally@melsa.org.

The mission of the Library Administration and Management Association (
www.ala.org/lama) is to encourage and nurture current and future library leaders, and to develop and promote outstanding leadership and management practices. LAMA is a division of the American Library Association.


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