“There’s nothing like the comfort of curling up with a good book, and turning paper pages at your own pace so that you can truly appreciate the content.  It’s particularly important for young learners because it allows them to ‘experience’ the moment, so when they read about the people, places and events that shaped our nation they can achieve an understanding of history that they can’t get by merely memorizing names and dates.  It’s the reason Dr. Bruce Cole, the former Chair of the National Foundation for the Humanities, and I decided to make the investment in creating the Prize,” says Smith who is an author and publisher.

The Gallup survey found that 53% of young adults read between one and 10 books in the past year.  The Gallup report concluded, “with the advent of e-readers and tablets in the past decade, some futurists predicted the imminent extinction of printed books.  It was said that the ability to download, read and store thousands of digital books on these devices would quickly reduce demand for the paper versions.  However, this prophecy appears to be far from true — so far.”

The Prize was established in 2015 and almost instantly became a much-coveted award, says Smith.  “We got 140 entries in less than six months.  In 2016, more than a hundred submissions were received and reviewed by our distinguished panel of Judges.”