LeVette Fuller from Shreve Memorial Library in Shreveport, Louisiana is the lucky winner of more than $20,000 for her library in the Great Graphic Novel Library Giveaway. The prize was announced at this weekend’s American Library Association conference. A video was made of the winner, above. Nearly 1500 librarians entered the contest.

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From left to right: Gretchen Herman, Vice President of Brodart; Allan Greenberg, Sales Manager for Diamond Book Distributors; Kim Patton, President of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA); Winner, LeVette Fuller of the Shreve Memorial Library in Shreveport, Louisiana and Carol Fitzgerald, Founder of GraphicNovelReporter.com/President of TheBookReportNetwork.com.

PR below:

At the American Library Association’s (ALA) Annual Conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana June 24-27, LeVette Fuller from Shreve Memorial Library in Shreveport, Louisiana was the lucky recipient of the $20,000+ Great Graphic Novel Library Giveaway, sponsored by Brodart Company, Diamond Book Distributors, and GraphicNovelReporter.com.

The $20,000+ Great Graphic Novel Library Giveaway included nearly 900 hand-selected graphic novels for adults, teens and children as well as fixtures and furniture. The total prize value exceeded $25,000. The grand prize will be of immediate use to the Shreve Memorial Library, which has been wanting to build its graphic novel collection more extensively, according to Fuller.

“Our library is starting to realize how important our teen patronage is. We have very high circulation numbers for graphic novels, but not enough of a collection. We are continually trying to expand to meet our needs and this prize will go a long way towards doing that,” said Fuller, the winner.

“It was a privilege to participate in the Great Graphic Novel Library Giveaway. This category of material continues to grow as more and more readers are recognizing the value in reading graphic novels, both for story and art appreciation. We hope the patrons of the Shreve Memorial Library will be excited and inspired by this collection for many years to come,” said Gretchen Herman, Brodart Co. Vice President.

“Diamond is proud to support the presence of graphic novels in libraries. By sponsoring this giveaway, along with producing the Diamond Book Shelf Website (http://www.diamondbookshelf.com) for libraries and educators, we continue our commitment to promoting the acceptance of graphic novels as quality reading and teaching materials,” said Allan Greenberg from Diamond Book Distributors.

“We were pleased to see the depth, breadth and quality of the collection of books being given away for adults, teens and children, which mirror the scope of our editorial vision on GraphicNovelReporter.com. Seeing the enthusiasm from librarians exploring this collection over the past few days has confirmed the popularity of this format with readers,” said Carol Fitzgerald, President of TheBookReportNetwork.com, which publishes GraphicNovelReporter.com.

The Great Graphic Novel Library Giveaway was open to public, school and academic librarians from the continental United States. One hundred semi-finalists were selected on Sunday evening, and Kim Patton, President of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), chose the winning librarian on Monday morning. Nearly 1,500 librarians entered to win between Friday and Sunday.

Jimmy Gownley, author/illustrator of the AMELIA RULES! Series created the logo and artwork for the giveaway, which was displayed during the conference. In addition to the library collection, dozens of prizes were handed out throughout the conference.

Brodart, Diamond and GraphicNovelReporter.com would like to thank all of the co-sponsors who donated books and other prizes for this giveaway:

Abrams Books, Ape Entertainment, Candlewick Press, Capstone, Creative Arts Unlimited Inc., Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, Fanfare/Ponent Mon, First Second Books, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Lerner Publishing, Marvel, Oni Press, Penguin Young Readers Group, Random House, Rosen Publishing, Round Table Comics, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Toon Books, Top Cow Productions, Top Shelf Productions, Unshelved, Viper Comics, VIZ Media, W.W. Norton and Zenescope Entertainment

This was the second time the Great Graphic Novel Library Giveaway was awarded to a library. The first $20,000 Great Graphic Novel Library Giveaway (at Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference in April) was a huge success, with libraries from all over the state of Texas entering to win hundreds of graphic novels as well as library shelving and furniture. The winner was Weslaco Public Library, represented by Eduardo Zepeda.

1 COMMENT

  1. Comics creators at ALA also donated books during the conference – Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum of Unshelved Media donated some of the trade paperback collections of their webcomic, Unshelved; Alexis Fajardo donated copies of his Kid Beowulf series; Jim Ottaviani donated copies of his graphic novels; and Archaia Studios donated some of their graphic novels. Raina Telgemeier donated signed posters for the Shreveport Library system. I may be missing some of the onsite donations. The level of excitement at the booth was incredible – we had the books on display in custom-built bookshelves and created a display and seating area as well. I worked the booth most of the weekend.