Applications Open for SIBA’s 2018 Pat Conroy Scholarships

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SIBA Discovery Show 2018 logoThe Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) is inviting booksellers to apply for the 2018 Pat Conroy Scholarship program, which will enable regional booksellers to attend the SIBA Discovery Show, courtesy of Penguin Random House. The deadline for nominations is July 15, 2018.

The scholarships, for booksellers who have never attended a SIBA Discovery Show, honor the late author whose lifetime achievements mean a great deal to southern booksellers. Penguin Random House’s Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, Dial Press Trade Paperbacks, and Random House Audio imprints publish Conroy’s work.

The scholarships will cover up to $1,000 of a recipient’s travel, hotel, and meal expenses. To be eligible, a bookseller must be a full-time employee of a SIBA-member bookstore, working at any level or capacity. Scholarship recipients will be announced on August 1.

“We believe that nurturing the next generation of career booksellers is one of the best things we can do to advance the future of bookselling,” said SIBA Executive Director Wanda Jewell. “These scholarships Penguin Random House is endowing mean so much to the booksellers chosen. They benefit from new educational opportunities and connect with other booksellers, authors, and publishers. They also bring a refreshing and inspiring energy to the show, which is so gratifying to witness. How appropriate that these awards honor Pat Conroy, who was so kind and generous with all of us, and, in particular, to those new to our industry.”

“Pat Conroy is beloved by his readers; his publisher, Penguin Random House; and by SIBA. So it is with great devotion for our author and enormous respect for the members of SIBA, whom he ardently supported, that we endow this next generation of bookseller-education scholarships for them in his honor,” said Penguin Random House President of Sales Jaci Updike.

To be considered for a Pat Conroy Scholarship, booksellers can self-nominate or be nominated by another bookseller or a sales rep. Owners and managers are strongly encouraged to nominate frontline booksellers who are interested in bookselling as a career. Learn more about how to nominate on SIBA’s website.

The 2018 SIBA Discovery show will be held September 13–15 at the Innisbrook Resort in Tampa, Florida.