UKeiG has great pleasure in announcing the winner of the 2015 Early Career Award, which celebrates extra-ordinary and inspirational enterprise in early-career professionals who are members of CILIP. It comes as no surprise that the prize in this first year of the Award goes to a school librarian. The nomination for AMY ICKE commends her work at both St Paul's Girls' School and, more recently, Wimbledon High School, noting her as a most outstanding colleague ... and a pleasure to work with. Her particular talent for encouraging others extends to both students and staff, offering a breadth of vision which encompasses the needs of others while freely sharing her own ideas.

Amy was always actively involved with all aspects school life, for example by supporting pupils on the environment committee. One of her first library initiatives to raise awareness of resources amongst the staff at St Paul's was a library blog. Soon after joining St Paul's, Amy took on the role of Gap Year co-ordinator; as well as e-learning co-ordinator, working closely with the IT department. She also worked closely with the School Historian, helping to build up a catalogue of resources: just one example of such work can be seen on the webpage she created for the School's 110th birthday  celebrations. Her enthusiasm for developing her skill set can be seen in her activities to organise and catalogue the personal library of Michael Rosen, former children's laureate.

Since moving to Wimbledon High School, Amy continues to demonstrate that she is always willing to go the extra mile, and has significantly enhanced library provision. She has brought her own clear, focussed vision to the library but is also guided by the views of others, working closely with Heads of Department, School Council and Sixth Form Committee to ensure her plans fully-reflect their needs. She has ensured the library extends far beyond the physical space by playing an active role in the Communications Strategy of the school. Working with the local community, Amy is collaborating with Fiona Ravzi, Director of Wimbledon Bookfest, on organising the first Young Adult strand of Bookfest 2015 involving students from five schools across Merton.

As an active member of the various school librarian groups, Amy delivered a talk on the interim findings of her MA research to the London branch of the School Library Association (SLA) and since September 2011, she has served on the CILIP London Member Network Committee. 

The nomination ends "Amy would be a worthy winner of this award for the breadth and quality of her achievements, the number of people she has encouraged and inspired and the professional manner with which she approaches every aspect of her work" and UKeiG has no hesitation in endorsing this view. Congratulations to a worthy winner.
Amy will be presented with her Award and cheque during the CILIP Conference in early July.

A slightly fuller version of the citation can be found on the Award Page - 
http://www.cilip.org.uk/uk-einformation-group/awards-bursaries/ukeig-early-career-award

-- 
Sheila Thomas BA FCLIP MWeldI MBCS
Weldasearch Manager
TWI Ltd, Granta Park, CB21 6AL, UK
01223 899295
www.weldasearch.com

This e-mail is issued subject to our e-mail disclaimer statement. Please refer to http://www.twi-global.com/email-disclaimer/