Edward B. Fry Book Award​

History of the Award

 

The purpose of the Edward B. Fry Book Award is to recognize LRA members who author a book on literacy research and practice. The award was established by Edward B. Fry who contributed a fund to support it. The first award was presented in 1995. An award seal was designed and used for the first time in 2000.

Criteria for Consideration

 

Eligibility for the award is limited to current members of LRA who have written or been one of several authors of a book.  The book must have a copyright date within 5 years of the date when the award is made.

 

The book that receives the award will:

 

• Advance knowledge about literacy

• Display inquiry into literacy

• Show responsible intellectual risk taking

Procedures for Nominations

 

Letters of nomination and a copy of the nominated book must be sent to the Chair before May 15th. Nomination letters must directly address the ways in which the nominated book meets the criteria outlined above. Letters cannot simply reiterate the endorsements or summaries designed to promote the text. Self-nominations are accepted. A book may be re-nominated if it has been previously nominated but did not win the award.

Review Process

 

Once nominations are received, the Chair reviews them to make sure they are eligible in terms of authorship and copyright date. The Chair contacts the publishers of the books to secure review copies for all Committee members. Publishers may send books directly to Committee members or send copies to the Chair to distribute. The Chair sends review and ranking forms to Committee members and information about the deadline for returning them. Committee members may e-mail their reviews and ranking information but also must send the forms to the Chair for the archives. When review and ranking forms are received from all Committee members, the Chair tallies the ranking forms, averages the scores, and determines the award winner. The Chair then notifies the recipient of the award, Committee members, and the Executive Director, emphasizing that the information is not to be revealed until the presentation at the Annual Conference. Notification should occur no later than October 1st.

Presentation of Award

 

The Edward B. Fry Book Award is presented at the annual conference and the author receives a plaque, a monetary award. The monetary award will be in the amount of 5 percent of the principal in the Fund. If there is more than one author, the amount will be distributed equally among co-authors.

Award Committee

Christina Dobbs

cdobbs@bu.edu

Chair, (2023 – 2026)

Rachel Salas

rgsalas@unr.edu

Committee Member, (2023- 2026)

Michelle Schira Hagerman                             mhagerma@uottawa.ca

Committee Member, (2021-2024)

Jessica Murdter-Atkinson

jessica.murdter-atkinson@unt.edu

Committee Member, (2023 – 2026)

Freddy Hiebert
hiebert@textproject.org
Committee Member, (2021-2024)

Kristen White 

kristenwhitephd@gmail.com

Committee Member (2022 – 2025)

Lynne Watanabe

lynne.kganetso@byu.edu

nope@lynne.kganetso@byu.edunope@lynne.kganetso@byu.edu

Committee Member, (2022 – 2025)

Lindsey Moses 

lindseymoses1@gmail.com

Committee Member (2023 – 2026)

Award Winners

Reading development in a second language: Theoretical, empirical, & classroom perspectives

Elizabeth Bernhardt

1995

Exchanging writing, exchanging cultures: Lesson in school reform from the United States and Great Britain

Sarah Warshauer Freedman

1996

Handbook of literacy and technology: Transformations in a post-typographic world

David Reinking, Michael McKenna, Linda Labbo, Ronald Kieffer

1999

Inside city schools: Investigating literacy in multicultural classrooms

Sara Warshauer Freedman, Elizabeth Radin Simons, Julie Shallhope Kalnin, Alex Casareno, and the M-CLASS

2000

Teacher Education and the Cultural Imagination: Autobiography, Conversation, and Narrative

Susan Florio-Ruane

2001

Literary Practices as Social Acts: Power, status, and Cultural Norms in the Classroom

Cynthia J. Lewis

2002

Why reading literature in school still matters: Imagination, interpretation, insight

Dennis J. Sumara

2003

A critical discourse analysis of family literacy practices: Power in and out of print

Rebecca Rogers

2003

Handbook of Reading Research

P. David Pearson, Rebecca Barr, Michael L. Kamil, Peter B. Mosenthal

2004

African American literacies

Elaine Richardson

2005

All American Yemeni girls: Being Muslim in a Public School

Loukia K. Sarroub

2005

Culturally contested pedagogy: Battles of Literacy and Schooling between Mainstream Teachers and Asian Immigrant Parents

Guofaang Li

2006

Reframing sociocultural research on literacy: Identity, agency, and power

Cynthia J. Lewis, Patricia E. Enciso, Elizabeth Birr Moje

2007

Storytime: Young children’s literary understanding in the classroom

Lawrence R. Sipe

2008

Handbook of adolescent literacy research

Leila Christenbury, Randy Bomer, & Peter Smagorinsky

2009

The Rhetoric of Teaching: Understanding the Dynamics of Holocaust Narratives in an English Classroom

Mary M. Juzwik

2010

Change is Gonna Come: Transforming literacy Education for African American students

Patricia A. Edwards, Gwendolyn Thompson McMillon, Jennifer D. Turner

2011

Empowering Struggling Readers: Practices for the Middle Grades

Leigh Hall, Leslie David Burns, & Elizabeth Edwards

2012

Culturally Contested Literacies: America’s “Rainbow Underclass” and Urban School

Guofang Li

2013

Critical Digital Literacies as Social Praxis: Intersections and Challenges

JuliAnna Ávila & Jessica Zacher Pandya

2014

Visual Journeys through Wordless Narratives: An International Inquiry with Immigrant Children and the Arrival

Carmen Martínéz-Roldan, Evelyn Arizpe, Teresa Colomer

2015

Literacy Theories for the Digital Age

Kathy A. Mills

2016

Partnering with Immigrant Communities: Action through Literacy

Gerald Campano, Maria Paula Ghiso, Bethany J. Welch

2017

Reading the Rainbow: LGBTQ-inclusive Literacy Instruction in the Elementary Classroom

Caitlin R. Ryan & Jill Hermann-Wilmarth

2018

Teaching Transnational Youth—Literacy and Education in a Changing World

Allison Skerrett

2019

Writing for Love and Money: How Migration Drives Literacy Learning in Transnational Families

Kate Vieira

2020

Transcultural Literacies: Re-visioning Relationships in Teaching and Learning

Karen Magro & Michelle A. Honeyford

2021

Finalists

Engaging Literate Minds: Developing Childen’s Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Lives, K-3

Peter Johnston, Kathy Champeau, Andrea Hartwig, Sarah Helmer, Merry Komar, Tara Krueger, and Laurie McCarthey

Compose Our World: Project-Based Learning in Secondary English Language Arts

Alison G. Boardman, Antero G. Garcia, Bridget Dalton, and Joseph L. Polman

 

Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education: Activism for Equity in Digital Spaces

Detra Price-Dennis & Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz

2022

Finalists

Whitewashed Critical Perspectives: Restoring the Edge to Edgy Ideas

Catherine Compton-Lilly, Tisha Lewis Ellison, Kristen Perry, and Peter Smagorinsky

Understanding the Transnational Lives and Literacies of Immigrant Children

Jungmin Kwon

Teaching English in Rural Communities Toward a Critical Rural English Pedagogy

Robert Petrone &
Allison Wynhoff Olsen

2023