The 2025 Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program is accepting applications through Tuesday, February 18, 2025.
The awards are made possible through the generosity of philanthropist David M. Rubenstein and the Kislak Family Foundation. Rubenstein has sponsored the awards since 2013 and the foundation has since 2023.
The Literacy Awards program recognizes organizations that provide exemplary, innovative and replicable strategies to promote literacy in the United States and abroad. The awards encourage the continuing development of innovative methods for promoting literacy and the dissemination of the most successful practices. For more than a decade, the Library has recognized the urgent need to achieve universal literacy through the program.
The awards are intended to draw public attention to the importance of literacy and the need to promote literacy and encourage reading. Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden will make the final selection of the prize winners with recommendations from an advisory board of literacy experts. Winners and honorees will be announced in September 2025.
Four top prizes will be awarded in 2025:
The David M. Rubenstein Prize ($150,000) is awarded for an outstanding and measurable contribution to increasing literacy levels. The prize honors an organization based either in the United States or abroad that has demonstrated exceptional and sustained depth in its commitment to the advancement of literacy.
The Kislak Family Prize ($100,000) is awarded to an organization based either in the United States or abroad with an outsized impact on literacy relative to its size and/or years of operation.
The American Prize ($50,000) is awarded for a significant and measurable contribution to increasing literacy levels or the national awareness of the importance of literacy. The prize honors an organization based in the United States.
The International Prize ($50,000) is awarded for a significant and measurable contribution to increasing literacy levels in a country other than the United States. The prize honors an organization that is based either in the United States or abroad.
Up to 15 additional organizations will be honored for their successful practices in various areas of literacy promotion. Each successful practices honoree recipient will receive $10,000.
Finally, the program will award $5,000 each to up to five additional literacy initiatives in their early stages of development that demonstrate significant creativity and promise in their approach to promoting literacy.
Non-profit organizations, schools, libraries, government-sponsored initiatives and tribal organizations are invited to apply.
Application rules and a downloadable application form are available online. Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. EST on February 18, 2025.
An applicant information session will be held Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 2 p.m. EST. Attendees must register for the session in advance.
The Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program is administered by the Professional Learning and Outreach Initiatives Office, a unit of the Center for Learning, Literacy and Engagement at the Library of Congress.
The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online, and is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
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Rebecca Barnabi
