Champions - Elkhart Public Library

Nominations are open for the 2024-25 school year!

What’s it take to be a Reading Champion? Teachers know, and so do librarians.

They see it every day when students show skill development, enthusiasm and success.

Elkhart Public Library helps get families on track with fun literacy programs and our proven Growing Readers tutoring. We keep them interested in books when school’s out with the Summer Reading Challenge.

And now, with our Friends of Elkhart Public Library, we want to celebrate the great strides made this year by Reading Champions. Along with the recognition, we’re going to select a teacher each week starting in February 2025 to receive up to $250 in books for their classroom.

For the students picked as Reading Champions, they will get special visits from the Book Bus to pick out new books to keep at home. They also will be featured on EPL’s social feeds and future editions of Explore and Explora magazines.

Make today the day you nominate a student who deserves recognition for their achievements this year!

Reading Champions

School(Required)

Concord Schools(Required)

Please select the school attended in the district.

Elkhart Schools(Required)

Please select the school attended in the district.

Teacher/Librarian Name(Required)

First Last

Phone

Email(Required)

Nominee Name(Required)

First Last

What makes this student a Reading Champion?(Required)

Upload a photo of your nominated student

Accepted file types: jpg, Max. file size: 64 MB.

This field is optional. A member of the Elkhart Public Library communications team is happy to arrange a time to visit your school and take the photo, too.

Reading Champions Rules(Required)

I agree to the conditions set forth in the Reading Champions rules (below), including the requirements to access available grant dollars for books to use in my school.

ABOUT THE INITIATIVE: Reading Champions is an initiative of Elkhart Public Library, with financial support from the Friends of Elkhart Public Library Inc. Reading Champions is not affiliated with any education provider, public or private. Information on nominated students and the teacher or school librarian/media center worker who nominated the student may be shared via publicly accessible digital resources (e.g., MyEPL.org website, social media channels) and/or print publications (e.g., Explore and Explora magazines produced by Elkhart Public Library, the 2025 EPL annual report). ABOUT THE STUDENT RECOGNITION: Each week through the Reading Champions campaign, generally Feb. 1-May 31, 2025, Elkhart Public Library will recognize nominated students. The students will be recognized on the above-mentioned publicly accessible digital platforms and print publications, with photo and details provided about the reading achievements made, as provided by the nominating teacher or school librarian/media center worker. Nominating teachers or school librarians/media center workers assume all responsibility for adhering to applicable privacy laws and school policies and/or procedures for sharing information about students. The act of submitting this form grants permission to Elkhart Public Library to recognize the nominated students and the nominating teacher or school librarian/media center worker. ABOUT THE GRANT AWARDS: Each week, Elkhart Public Library will select, at random, one submission received from the previous seven days. As the winner of the drawing, the nominating teacher or school librarian/media center worker will be contacted with the procedure for submitting a list of book titles they choose to be purchased and delivered to the school for placement in the classroom. Elkhart Public Library will act as the purchaser of the books, complying with all standard accounting practices, local procedures, and state standards for the use of funds. Elkhart Public Library will request reimbursement from the Friends of Elkhart Public Library Inc. for the purchase amount, up to $250.00 for each grant awarded. More detailed information about the exchange of the book list and ordering will be shared with the selected winners. Elkhart Public Library will deliver the ordered materials to the school of the selected nominating teacher or school librarian/media center worker.