HOW TO WIN THE LITERACY AWARDS

The focus of this week’s meeting is the literacy awards program. Specifically, I want to focus on the District Literacy Award and the Zone Literacy Award. In Brief:

A. Remember --- One of the four major tasks of the RI Literacy Resource Group is to encourage clubs to undertake literacy projects AND one of the most important tools we have to do that is our literacy awards program. More specifically we have created the District Literacy Award and the Zone Literacy Award as a means of encouraging clubs to do multiple literacy projects. Our primary emphasis is on the DISTRICT LITERACY AWARD. Why? Because the requirements are so easy to do that any club can earn it with just a modest amount of effort.

B. Remember --- A second of the four major tasks of the RI Literacy Resource Group is to make literacy projects and activities easier to do. The RILRG makes it easier for districts to encourage their clubs to earn the District Literacy Award by providing an easy-to-use literacy awards guide. We put that guide on the RI web site where all districts and clubs can easily access it. The web address is, of course, www.rotary.org/literacy. And the downloadable guide and application form at that location is listed as LITERACY AWARD CERTIFICATION FORM.

C. Remember --- The RI Literacy Resource Group makes it easier for DISTRICT GOVERNORS to prepare the award certificates by making blank or sample award certificate forms available on-line at www.rotary.org/literacy. All the DG has to do is go to that site, pull up the form for the District or Zone Literacy Award, fill in the blanks and then print the completed form. The downloadable sample award certificate file is listed on the web site as SAMPLE LITERACY AWARD CERTIFICATES.

D. This reminds us of the great support job our support staff in Evanston has done in years past. Here is that story. About 5 years ago the RILRG asked staff to prepare award certificates. The request had in mind hard copies which would be mailed out. Staff said that was impossible for cost and logistical reasons. But instead of stopping there, staff came up with an alternative suggestion. Would the RILRG accept the idea of downloadable blank certificates on the RI web site? And so it came to pass that we have our present system … inexpensive and easy to use. That story reminds us that our Evanston staff acts proactively. When Rotary rules and budgets foreclose one course of action requested by the RILRG, staff takes the initiative to find some other way to get the job done.

E. Good News --- Staff has done it again. By patiently but continuously asking the RI translation staff to translate our literacy awards brochure into all official languages, they finally got the job done. The awards brochure is now on line in all official languages.

The same is true for the SAMPLE LITERACY AWARD CERTIFICATES.

F. Action Request --- Before you start telling your district contacts how this works, please take the time to go to the RI web site and do the following:

1. Make sure the guide to literacy awards and the blank award certificates are there as promised.

2. Take the time to download one of the sample award certificates and fill it in as if you were preparing an individual club award certificate. Use your own club’s name if you wish. Then print out the certificate to be sure that the finished product is what we claim it will be.

The Future Success of This Aspect of the Awards Program Is in Your Hands.

P.S. Roger Hayward just sent out another excellent literacy newsletter. If you have not yet received a copy, please contact Roger. Then share it with your districts.

P.S. Our staff in Evanston informs me that it has succeeded in getting the World-Wide Literacy Newsletter made available on-line through our literacy web site (www.rotary.org/literacy). The tradition of proactive staff support continues.

Richard Hattwick

RI World Coordinator for Literacy

February 2010

PHOTOS: PRI John Kenny and his wife June in the 2010 International Assembly in San Diego; the Rotarian Eduardo Krafetuski responsible for CLE in Sonia Braga School (Brazil); Kerim and Salin Attink, responsibles for Literacy, in the Beyazil Library in Istanbul (Turkey); RIPD Örsçelik Balkan (Turkey), who was the responsible to implement CLE in Turkey, Manuel Cardona and Henrique Pinto (Portugal), Doros (Cyprus)and Akin Gokway (Turkey), in Lisbon Rotary Institute.