The Library of Congress (LOC) State Literacy Award recognizes organizations or programs that have made outstanding and innovative contributions to promoting literacy and/or reading in the local community or state. The program is funded through the generous support of David M. Rubenstein. As one of the state affiliates of the Library of Congress "National Center for the Book", the Wisconsin Center for the Book submits a nominee (an organization doing excellent work promoting literacy in Wisconsin) for this award every year. The Wisconsin nominees have been among the awardees every year since this award was created.
The award comes with a $2,225 stipend that goes to the winning states and, after administrative costs are deducted, usually results in just over $2,000 of support going to selected organizations.
For this process of selecting nominee organizations from the state of Wisconsin, WCB collaborates with Wisconsin Literacy, Inc., a non-profit coalition of over 70 community-based literacy programs located throughout the state. WI Center for the Book board members review the nominations recommended by Wisconsin Literacy (usually four) and select one nominee from their state to compete for a library of Congress State Literacy Award. Only ten organizations from throughout the country receive the award each year.
Nominations are evaluated for quality, innovation and impact. WI Center for the Book submits the nomination form to the Library of Congress, where a subcommittee of the LOC’s Literacy Awards Program Advisory Board selects the ultimate recipients.