8 April 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEIBBY Announces Winner of the 2024 IBBY-iRead Outstanding
Reading Promotion Award
Junko Yokota, Chair of the IBBY Reading Promotion Jury announces the winners of the 2024 IBBYiRead Outstanding Reading Promotion Award. The International Board on Books for Young People(IBBY) is very grateful for the generous support of the Shenzhen iRead Foundation from China.
The 2024 winners are: Basarat Kazim, from Pakistan, nominated by the IBBY Section ofPakistan, and Irene Vasco from Colombia, nominated by IBBY Canada.
Basarat Kazim’s nomination submitted by IBBY Pakistan notes that she is a “selfless committed
humanitarian, an educator, a children’s writer, social activist and die-hard advocate of reading inyouth—an ordinary person doing extraordinary work”. Starting in 1978 with 500 students and one
library, Basarat Kazim’s innovative efforts have converted Alif Laila Book Bus Society into an entire
movement with over 7000 libraries, benefitting 1 million children and training 1000+ teachers.
Among many awards bestowed on her, Basarat was honoured with the 2023 Inspiring WomanAwards with the reputation of being one who turns everything into a children’s library because of
the belief that every child in Pakistan should read. She converted camels, yaks, rickshaws, boxes,bicycles, motorbikes, all into libraries with her motto “Sky is the Limit.” Her influence can be seenin having trained 500 Teachers, 1000 Teaching Interns, 20 Creative Practitioners, and 200 Master
Trainers. It is inspiring to note that Basarat has consistently been of aid to her country during timesof devastation and destruction among much poverty. She showed innovative ways of meeting
extraordinary needs during the pandemic and shifted to more of a literacy orientation.
Irene Vasco’s nomination submitted by IBBY Canada shows that since the 1980s she is a
“Colombian children’s literature expert, lecturer, writer, and reading promoter (…) Her participationin conferences throughout the South American continent and Spain has made her an international
authority in reading promotion and a renowned author of children’s and young people’s literaturein Colombia and beyond.” Irene is an influential heroine who faces challenges, reading to children
in indigenous or dangerous areas, carrying books as her talisman. She collects stories of women,even on a bus. Her work is characterized as well-coordinated and well-conceptualized. She has
shown innovation in numerous ways, from how she established “community home” small libraries
in villages to how she uses a printing press to help understand alphabetic code.
Irene is inspiring in her dedication in sharing her knowledge with others, including publishingseveral books about reading promotion.

_____________________________________________________________________________IBBY – Nonnenweg 12, CH-4055 Basel, Switzerland www.ibby.org

IBBY congratulates the winners. At the next IBBY Congress (Triste, Italy, 30 August–1
September 2024), the two winners will each receive a trophy and a diploma, 200,000 RMB and,in addition, 150,000 RMB Yuan will be given to a non-profit children ’s reading promotion projectof their choice.
The 2024 IBBY Reading Promotion Award Jury comprised: Tina Bilban from Slovenia, IngridKällström from Sweden, Elena Pasoli from Italy, Luis Zendrera from Spain, and Wen Li fromChina, in representation of the iRead foundation. It was chaired by Junko Yokota from the USA.
Eleven other nominees were considered for the award. These include: Hugo Waldemar Cubilla,from Argentina; Sun Yi (Sister Xiaoyu) from China; Angela Chalkiopoulou, from Cyprus; María
Teresa Pérez from the Dominican Republic; Michèle Petit from France; Kirsten Boie, fromGermany; Ali Ashgar Seidabadi, from Tehran; Nader Mousavi, from Iran; Darja Lavrencic,
from Slovenia; Slavko Pregl from Slovenia, and Arthur Atwell, from South Africa.

About the IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promotion Award
The IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award was first given in 2020 by the Shenzhen
iRead Foundation and IBBY to encourage a real commitment to the cause of reading promotionin the hope of spreading this dedication to others around the globe. The Award aims toencourage further investment by individuals, organizations and governments in the promotionof children’s reading and will stimulate educational innovation, give much greater access tochildren’s books and an enhanced profile for children’s reading promotion—key tools in global,
social, economic and cultural development – all in the context of Article 17(C) of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child. The iRead Foundation has pledged 1,200,000 RMB biennially fortwenty years for this important award.

About IBBY
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), established in 1953, is a non-profit
organization that represents an international network of people from all over the world who arecommitted to bringing books and children together.

ContactFor more information, about IBBY and the iRead Outstanding Reading Promotion Award, please
visit www.ibby.org or write to Executive Director Carolina Ballester at carolina.ballester@ibby.org.