Publisher Partners, Ingram Sponsor Winter Institute Scholarships

More than two-dozen scholarships to the American Booksellers Association's Fifth Annual Winter Institute (Wi5) will be awarded to booksellers at the end of this month thanks to the generous support of 21 Publisher Partners. Scholarship winners will be selected from among all ABA bookseller members (no special application is needed). Booksellers who drop off a business card at the ABA tables at any of the nine fall regional shows will earn an extra entry in the scholarship drawings. Scholarships will cover the cost of reasonable airfare and up to a four-night hotel stay at the Doubletree San Jose, the Wi5 host hotel.

ABA Publisher Partners sponsoring bookseller scholarships to Wi5 are:

"Our sincere thanks go out to all of the publishers who are demonstrating their support for indie booksellers by their sponsorship of Winter Institute scholarships," said Mark Nichols, ABA senior director of publisher initiatives. "We look forward to announcing the winners at the end of this month, after the last regional trade show, and hope all ABA members will join us in thanking the publishers in person in February in San Jose."

In related news, this week the Emerging Leaders Project announced that it has begun accepting applications for eight scholarships supported by Ingram Book Company, the Wi5 event sponsor. An Emerging Leaders scholarship will be awarded for each bookselling region (with the exception of Northern California, the host region).

The Emerging Leaders Project is looking for the future leaders and innovators of the bookselling world. Booksellers can nominate themselves or bookstore owners and managers can nominate a staff member via e-mail to [email protected]. A bookseller who is nominated by an owner or manager must also send an e-mail to [email protected]. The e-mail should identify the candidate, their region, and the store in which he or she works. Information about the candidate's role in the store, his or her feelings about bookselling, the candidate's potential for a long-term bookselling career, and how she or he might benefit from the Winter Institute should also be included.

Emerging Leaders Wi5 scholarships cover lodging and transportation. The application deadline is October 20.

Wi5 will be held from Wednesday, February 3, through Friday, February 5, 2010, at the Doubletree San Jose in San Jose, California. Registration is open exclusively to booksellers at ABA member bookstores and to provisional members. Learn more.