Weekly Edition

VBA gives Book Center grant for ‘Big Read’

CHARLOTTESVILLE—The Virginia Bar Association has presented the Virginia Foundation Center for the Book with a $1,500 grant to support two statewide student competitions for the Center’s “Big Read in Virginia” project based on Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Students in grades 9-12 were invited to submit entries to either the Student Essay Competition or the Student Digital Photography Competition, both based on the theme, “Justice, Compassion, and Integrity: The Legacy of To Kill a Mockingbird.”

“We are pleased to be partnering with the VFH Center for the Book,” said VBA President G. Michael Pace Jr. “To Kill a Mockingbird and Atticus Finch have inspired many of our own members to become citizen lawyers and serve their communities living up to the highest ideals of the legal profession. It is our hope that students across Virginia will reflect upon their own attitudes on race, class, gender, tolerance and rule of law as they relate to the novel.”

Winners will be announced this month. Details, including information on the cash prizes, can be found at virginiafoundation.org/bookcenter or by calling 434-982-2983. The “Big Read in Virginia” encourages readers across the Commonwealth to read – or re-read – and discuss “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which stresses justice, compassion, integrity, family and community. Virginia First Lady Anne Holton is the state honorary chair, and First Lady Laura Bush is the national honorary chair.

Nationally, the Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. Information on free resources for book groups, schools and individual readers can be found at virginiafoundation.org/bookcenter.

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