Notable Books for a Global Society Award
Practitioner Award & Research Award
Award Description
The Notable Books for a Global Society (NBGS) Award is presented by the Children’s Literature and Reading (CL/R) SIG through the International Literacy Association to two outstanding educators each year: one with a research focus, and another with a practitioner focus.
The NBGS Award rewards passionate educators dedicated to creative and innovative use and exploration of literature from the NBGS in both pre-K – 12th grade and university classrooms, as well as in other learning contexts (such as libraries, after-school programs, summer enrichment programs, literacy outreach programs, etc.)
General Guidelines
All applicants must be current members of the Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (ILA CL/R SIG). NBGS Committee Members are precluded from applying to this award. CL/R SIG members in volunteer positions and other committee members are welcome to apply. Successful applicants may reapply every three years.
All award applications must be typed and submitted as one complete file.
Submit all complete applications to Dr. Anne Katz, Chair of the NBGS Award, at [email protected]
Applications are due by April 12, 2026.
Incomplete applications, applications that do not adhere to the format requested, applications by non-CL/R SIG members, and/or applications submitted after April 12, 2026 will not be considered.
Please contact Dr. Katz if you have any questions regarding this award and/or the application process.
How to Apply
Please do not include the applicant’s name, school/institutional affiliation, or any other personal information that will identify the applicant on any part of the proposal other than the cover page.
The Notable Books for a Global Society (NBGS) Award is presented by the Children’s Literature and Reading (CL/R) SIG through the International Literacy Association to two outstanding educators each year: one with a research focus, and another with a practitioner focus.
The NBGS Award rewards passionate educators dedicated to creative and innovative use and exploration of literature from the NBGS in both pre-K – 12th grade and university classrooms, as well as in other learning contexts (such as libraries, after-school programs, summer enrichment programs, literacy outreach programs, etc.)
General Guidelines
All applicants must be current members of the Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (ILA CL/R SIG). NBGS Committee Members are precluded from applying to this award. CL/R SIG members in volunteer positions and other committee members are welcome to apply. Successful applicants may reapply every three years.
All award applications must be typed and submitted as one complete file.
Submit all complete applications to Dr. Anne Katz, Chair of the NBGS Award, at [email protected]
Applications are due by April 12, 2026.
Incomplete applications, applications that do not adhere to the format requested, applications by non-CL/R SIG members, and/or applications submitted after April 12, 2026 will not be considered.
Please contact Dr. Katz if you have any questions regarding this award and/or the application process.
How to Apply
Please do not include the applicant’s name, school/institutional affiliation, or any other personal information that will identify the applicant on any part of the proposal other than the cover page.
NBGS Award Recipients
2026 Award Winners
Dr. Danilo Madayag Baylen - 2026 NBGS Research Award
University of West Georgia
"Stories That Belong to Us: Using NBGS Picture Books to Build Early Literacy in Pre-Kindergarten"
This proposal describes a culturally sustaining, multimodal early literacy initiative for pre-kindergarten learners (ages 3–5), grounded in three years of inquiry at a university-based Early Learning Center. The initiative centers on shared reading and interactive engagement with Notable Books for a Global Society (NBGS) picture books and is now expanding into a formally structured spring 2027 program. Six carefully selected titles anchor a 12-week instructional cycle across two pre-kindergarten classrooms, each with 16 to 18 children. Each book drives 45 to 60 minutes of weekly learning, integrating read-aloud with dramatic play, visual art, song, movement, realia-based interaction, and digital storytelling. Instructional strategies are rooted in evidence-based early literacy practice, including dialogic reading, interactive read-aloud, phonological awareness development, and interactive writing, each extended through multimodal experiences that honor the whole child. Assessment is playful, ongoing, and differentiated to reflect the cultural, linguistic, cognitive, and social-emotional diversity of young learners. Book selection and response options emerge from three years of iterative practice, co-constructed with students and centered on children's voices, identities, and joy.
Dr. Meredith Melragon - 2026 NBGS Practitioner Award
Murray Massenburg Elementary School, Durham Public Schools
Supporting student learning in English as a Second Language classes and providing opportunities for creating and sustaining culturally relevant classrooms through NBGS titles
The award will continue to support student learning in English as a Second Language classes and provide opportunities for classroom teachers to learn about NBGS titles. The project will share lessons and books that enable students to bring the language assets they have into the classroom, engaging in translanguaging work. Beyond language, children will explore culture, bringing what they know about their culture into the classroom and discovering the knowledge that other students and school community members share.
2025 Award Winner
Jan Lacina- 2025 NBGS Practitioner Award Winner
For the past two years, Dr. Jan Lacina has led the twice weekly Critical Literacy Book Club at Starpoint School, alongside two teacher candidates; the book club will continue for a third year during the 2025-2026 school year. Starpoint School is a university laboratory school located at Texas Christian University, and provides students with learning difficulties with specialized instruction. Dr. Lacina sought to provide a nurturing and supportive environment focused on student strengths, while providing students with strategies to become confident readers. Award-winning children’s literature addressing critical themes—including the immigrant and refugee experience, friendship, peacemaking, and kindness—was presented through teacher-led read-alouds. The book club met twice weekly before school.
In addition, Dr. Lacina has facilitated teacher candidate participation in the Warren Fellowship for Future Teachers at the Holocaust Museum Houston for the past three years. Teacher candidates who co-lead the book club attended the fellowship in May 2025 to deepen their understanding of teaching about the Holocaust and promoting social responsibility. This fall, the focus of the book club is upstanders in children’s literature, and the club will read NBGS award winning picture books.
2024 Award Winner
Lauren Liang - 2024 NBGS Research Award Winner
"Training Today's New Teachers: Global Books Enhancing Preparation for Licensure Assessments"
This exploratory study considers the use of picture books from the 2023 and 2024 Notable Books for a Global Society Lists in a practical assignment for conducting an interactive read aloud. Using these NBGS titles may better support preservice teachers’ early attempts at creating prompts and in conducting interactive read-alouds; the books’ high literary quality and cultural authenticity, as well as possible content and vocabulary demands related to their pluralistic views of world society, often highlights areas where young readers may need greater support in meaning-making, thus making it easier for new educators to prepare potential scaffolds and prompts. Incorporating these titles into the interactive read-aloud assignment may better allow licensure and credential students to understand and practice comprehension and vocabulary instructional skills and serve as strong preparation for the FOR assessment tasks.
Liang, L. & Lucas, C. (2025). Training Today's New Teachers: Global Books Enhancing Preparation for Licensure Assessments. The DragonLode, 44 (1), 38-47.
2022 Award Winner
Jan Lacina - 2022 NBGS Research Award Winner
Lacina, J. (2023). 2022 Notable Books for a Global Society Research Award Winner: Heroes among us: Refugees and Immigrants in Award-Winning Children’s Literature. The Reading Teacher, 77 (1), 75–80.
Dr. Danilo Madayag Baylen - 2026 NBGS Research Award
University of West Georgia
"Stories That Belong to Us: Using NBGS Picture Books to Build Early Literacy in Pre-Kindergarten"
This proposal describes a culturally sustaining, multimodal early literacy initiative for pre-kindergarten learners (ages 3–5), grounded in three years of inquiry at a university-based Early Learning Center. The initiative centers on shared reading and interactive engagement with Notable Books for a Global Society (NBGS) picture books and is now expanding into a formally structured spring 2027 program. Six carefully selected titles anchor a 12-week instructional cycle across two pre-kindergarten classrooms, each with 16 to 18 children. Each book drives 45 to 60 minutes of weekly learning, integrating read-aloud with dramatic play, visual art, song, movement, realia-based interaction, and digital storytelling. Instructional strategies are rooted in evidence-based early literacy practice, including dialogic reading, interactive read-aloud, phonological awareness development, and interactive writing, each extended through multimodal experiences that honor the whole child. Assessment is playful, ongoing, and differentiated to reflect the cultural, linguistic, cognitive, and social-emotional diversity of young learners. Book selection and response options emerge from three years of iterative practice, co-constructed with students and centered on children's voices, identities, and joy.
Dr. Meredith Melragon - 2026 NBGS Practitioner Award
Murray Massenburg Elementary School, Durham Public Schools
Supporting student learning in English as a Second Language classes and providing opportunities for creating and sustaining culturally relevant classrooms through NBGS titles
The award will continue to support student learning in English as a Second Language classes and provide opportunities for classroom teachers to learn about NBGS titles. The project will share lessons and books that enable students to bring the language assets they have into the classroom, engaging in translanguaging work. Beyond language, children will explore culture, bringing what they know about their culture into the classroom and discovering the knowledge that other students and school community members share.
2025 Award Winner
Jan Lacina- 2025 NBGS Practitioner Award Winner
For the past two years, Dr. Jan Lacina has led the twice weekly Critical Literacy Book Club at Starpoint School, alongside two teacher candidates; the book club will continue for a third year during the 2025-2026 school year. Starpoint School is a university laboratory school located at Texas Christian University, and provides students with learning difficulties with specialized instruction. Dr. Lacina sought to provide a nurturing and supportive environment focused on student strengths, while providing students with strategies to become confident readers. Award-winning children’s literature addressing critical themes—including the immigrant and refugee experience, friendship, peacemaking, and kindness—was presented through teacher-led read-alouds. The book club met twice weekly before school.
In addition, Dr. Lacina has facilitated teacher candidate participation in the Warren Fellowship for Future Teachers at the Holocaust Museum Houston for the past three years. Teacher candidates who co-lead the book club attended the fellowship in May 2025 to deepen their understanding of teaching about the Holocaust and promoting social responsibility. This fall, the focus of the book club is upstanders in children’s literature, and the club will read NBGS award winning picture books.
2024 Award Winner
Lauren Liang - 2024 NBGS Research Award Winner
"Training Today's New Teachers: Global Books Enhancing Preparation for Licensure Assessments"
This exploratory study considers the use of picture books from the 2023 and 2024 Notable Books for a Global Society Lists in a practical assignment for conducting an interactive read aloud. Using these NBGS titles may better support preservice teachers’ early attempts at creating prompts and in conducting interactive read-alouds; the books’ high literary quality and cultural authenticity, as well as possible content and vocabulary demands related to their pluralistic views of world society, often highlights areas where young readers may need greater support in meaning-making, thus making it easier for new educators to prepare potential scaffolds and prompts. Incorporating these titles into the interactive read-aloud assignment may better allow licensure and credential students to understand and practice comprehension and vocabulary instructional skills and serve as strong preparation for the FOR assessment tasks.
Liang, L. & Lucas, C. (2025). Training Today's New Teachers: Global Books Enhancing Preparation for Licensure Assessments. The DragonLode, 44 (1), 38-47.
2022 Award Winner
Jan Lacina - 2022 NBGS Research Award Winner
Lacina, J. (2023). 2022 Notable Books for a Global Society Research Award Winner: Heroes among us: Refugees and Immigrants in Award-Winning Children’s Literature. The Reading Teacher, 77 (1), 75–80.
Children's Literature & Reading SIG Newsletters
sustainability_project_-_elementary_-_holt_.pdf
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