In 1981, the Women’s National Book Association established the WNBA Pannell Award to recognize and publicly applaud the work of booksellers who stimulate, promote and encourage children’s and young people’s interest in books. Lucile Micheels Pannell, a founding member of one of the WNBA chapters, was born in the late 1800s. A model bookwoman, her career included teaching in a one-room schoolhouse, working as a librarian, then managing the Hobby Horse Bookshop in Chicago’s Carson Pirie Scott department store from 1943 to 1953. Although she had no children of her own, Lucile loved reading to children and introducing them to the world of books. Chicago schools would sponsor field trips to the Hobby Horse Bookshop because children and teachers loved visiting with Lucile to listen to stories and learn about the world of books. This Award is our way to honor Lucile’s special role in WNBA’s history.

2008 Kepler’s Books and Magazines of Menlo Park, CA was the winner!  Coach Teresa here witnessed their receiving the award. The folks at Kepler’s are local heroes.

2011 Pannell Award Winners

The 2011 winner in the General Bookstore category is Queen Anne Books in Seattle, WA. The Children’s Specialty Store category winner is Fairytales Bookstore in Nashville, TN.

A jury of five book industry professionals deliberated for four weeks, then selected the winners based on creativity, responsiveness to community needs and an understanding of young readers. Jurors expressed admiration for all the nominated stores. In particular, the reasons they gave for the selected bookstores included:

In addition to WNBA, the Pannell Award is underwritten by a generous gift from Penguin Young Readers Group. Each winning store will receive a check for $1,000 and a framed piece of original art by a children’s book illustrator.  This year’s art is contributed by Erin E. Stead, current Caldecott Medalist, from the upcoming book …and then it’s spring, by Julie Fogliano, which will be published next February by Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook/MacMillan; and Matthew Myers from the book Tyrannosaurus Dad by Liz Rosenberg, also published by Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook/MacMillan.  The presentation of the awards will be at opening of the Children’s Book and Author Breakfast at BEA on May 24th, 2011 in New York.

Jurors this year included Deborah Brodie, editor, book doctor and writing coach at DeborahBrodie.com; Susan Knopf, President, Scout Books and Media; Yolanda Scott, editorial director, Charlesbridge; Manuela Soares, lecturer and director of the Graduate Seminar, Pace University’s Publishing Program; and Gail Vinett, lead buyer, Ingram Content Group.

Read more about past winners: http://www.wnba-books.org/wnba-awards/wnba-pannell-award-for-bookstores

Cheers to independent booksellers!