Three Brooklyn finalists for 2nd annual NYC Neighborhood Library Awards

More Than 13,000 Nominations Yield 10 Finalists — From All Five Boroughs

March 25, 2015 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Clinton Hill Library is among the 10 finalists for the 2nd annual NYC Neighborhood Library Awards. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Public Library

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The Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Charles H. Revson Foundation announced on Monday the 10 finalists for the 2nd annual NYC Neighborhood Library Awards, which celebrate the crucial role of local libraries in serving New York City’s diverse communities. The Awards — unique in honoring individual branch libraries —recognize branches in New York City’s three library systems: The Brooklyn Public Library; Queens Library; and the New York Public Library, which operates branches in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island.

The 10 finalists are the Clinton Hill Library in Brooklyn, the New Lots Library in Brooklyn, the Windsor Terrace Library in Brooklyn, the Cambria Heights Library in Queens, the Jefferson Market Library in Manhattan, the Langston Hughes Library in Queens, the Mott Haven Library in the Bronx, the Parkchester Library in the Bronx, the Stapleton Library in Staten Island and the Sunnyside Library in Queens.

The awards generated more than 13,000 nominations from library users. The remarkable response — more than three times the previous record — underscores the vital role that libraries play in our city and reveals the many ways in which libraries support New Yorkers in their daily lives.

The 10 finalists are now being reviewed by a panel of distinguished judges, who will decide which five will win the NYC Neighborhood Library Award and $20,000 each — the largest cash prize awarded directly to branchlibraries in the nation.

The panel of judges, who will select the five winning libraries — to be announced in May – include acclaimed authors Maira Kalman, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Jacqueline Woodson; Susan Hildreth, former Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services; Dutton Children’s Books publisher Julie Strauss-Gabel, and Maya Wiley, Counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The nomination period was launched in November 2014 on “The Brian Lehrer Show” on WNYC, the media partner of the NYC Neighborhood Library Awards, and ended in December. The nominations were evaluated byFoundation staff and an independent review committee, focusing on libraries that demonstrated exceptional commitment to the needs of their respective neighborhoods. Site visits were conducted of potential finalists.