A Uni portable reading room in NYC

Now in its fifth year, the Innovations in Reading program recognizes institutions and individuals who strive to nurture and promote love of books and reading. Sponsored by the National Book Foundation, prize winners are awarded up to $2500 each to help fund their initiatives and serve even more readers. Past award winners have included a teen booktalk TV show, a text message poetry journal, and James Patterson's ReadKiddoRead website. This year's winners are an equally diverse and innovative bunch. Reading is the Way Up® is a unique partnership between school libraries, City National Bank, and Barnes and Noble to promote literacy and put books in the hands of kids. The originators of Little Free Libraries are recognized for starting a movement that has resulted in the creation of over 8,000 community libraries in 42 countries. The Uni Project, initially funded through crowdsourcing, has added portable reading rooms to the New York City landscape.

An Uprise Books Project teen reader

The Uprise Books Project uses the "forbidden fruit" of banned books to motivate young adults, particularly those in underserved and economically-stressed areas, to read. Worldreader has delivered over 480,000 ebooks to children in six sub-Saharan African countries. You can learn more about the prize winners at the NBF's Innovations in Reading website. The application for the 2014 Innovations in Reading Prize will be available December 2013.