Programming grant for libraries serving at-risk teens Up to 50 grants will be awarded to libraries working with at-risk teens to create a reading and discussion program called Great Stories Club. Libraries located within or working in partnership with organizations that serve at-risk youth, such as alternative high schools, juvenile justice organizations, homeless shelters, foster care agencies, teen parenting programs, residential treatment facilities, and other nonprofit and community agencies can apply for the grants, initiated by the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office. Grantees will host reading and discussion events—six to 10 teen participants—for each of three selected book titles. The theme for the current round of grants is “Hack the Feed: Media, Resistance, Revolution,” and the books are Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, M. T. Anderson’s Feed, and March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell. Grantees will receive:

• 11 paperback copies of each of the three book selections (10 to gift to participants; 1 for discussion leader/library collection);
• travel and accommodation expenses paid for attendance at the project orientation workshop for the library project directors, on November 16, 2015, in Chicago;
• training through periodic project webinars, a program planning guide, and other online support materials;
• online access to professionally designed, customizable and downloadable resources for use with program participants.

Read the full guidelines and to apply online. Applications are due September 15. In the winner’s circle International Thriller Writers (ITW) announced the winners of the 2015 Thriller Awards during a gala on Saturday, July 11 in New York City. ITW represents professional thriller authors and works to support the careers of debut and midlist thriller authors. The organization’s mission is “to provide opportunities for mentoring, education and collegiality among thriller authors and industry professionals; and to grant awards for excellence in the thriller genre.” The winner and finalists in the young adult category are as follows: WINNER: Elle Cosimano – Nearly Gone (Penguin/Kathy Dawson Bks.) Kristen Lippert-Martin – Tabula Rasa (EgmontUSA) Meredith McCardle – The Eighth Guardian (Amazon/Skyscape) Victoria Schwab – The Unbound (Disney-Hyperion) Kara Taylor – Wicked Little Secrets (St. Martin’s Griffin) The winner in the best hardcover category was Megan Abbott’s The Fever (Little, Brown), one of SLJ’s 2014 Best Adult Books for Teens.   The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) recently announced the finalists for the 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction. The award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be presented annually to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Committee that demonstrates a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, July 28. The winning title and finalists will be honored on at the 2015 ALAN Workshop on Monday, November 23 in Minneapolis, and the authors will be invited to participate in a panel discussion. The 2015 finalists are: Diamond Boy by Michael Williams (Little, Brown) Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero (Cinco Puntos) Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King (Little, Brown) The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking/Penguin) Revolution (The Sixties Trilogy) by Deborah Wiles (Scholastic) The 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee considered nearly 300 young adult titles throughout the process and was comprised of 11 members representing the university, K-12 school, and library communities. Apply for Bill Morris Seminar to receive book evaluation training The Association for Library Service to Children is seeking applications for the Bill Morris Seminar: Book Evaluation Training event to be held on Friday, January 8, 2016, prior to the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston. The seminar will be facilitated by ALSC member leaders including past committee members and chairs of evaluation committees, and will focus on children’s book and media evaluation. It aims to bring new ALSC members and members with limited evaluation experience together with those who have served on ALSC’s media evaluation committees in an environment to train and mentor them in the group process and in children’s media evaluation techniques. The aim is to support leaders for future ALSC evaluation committees. The ALSC William C. Morris Endowment will enable those selected to attend the training seminar for no charge.  Covered expenses include all materials, breakfast, and lunch. To help defray additional costs for hotel and other expenses, a $300 stipend for each attendee will be provided from the Morris Endowment. Applications for the 2016 Morris Seminar are due by August 13.