Best Department Senior History

Department Senior History Competition

An organization’s history is valuable for many reasons. For instance, it can simply remind our members “who we are,” thereby creating a strong bond that unites and inspires. We can draw lessons from understanding how previous members confronted challenges and opportunities, as well as how they responded to them. History can also answer the question, “How did we get to this point?” These are some of the reasons a history should be recorded.

To this end, we encourage department senior historians to participate in the Department Senior History Contest (See “Rules and Score Sheet”). Department histories are to be sent to and judged by the respective national division vice president. The winning entry for each division will be submitted to the national historian who determines the overall winner of the annual history contest. The winner in the Senior category is the recipient of the ALA Toomey Award. This award came at the behest of the Department of Georgia in 1924, named in honor of one of their distinguished members, Maude Lynch Toomey.

Each entry should include the following information:

• Division
• Department
• Department Historian’s Name
• Department Historian’s Address (including email address)

A department history MUST BE RECEIVED by the appropriate national division vice president NO LATER than July 10 to be eligible for judging.

Awards

• National Toomey Trophy:  Engraved plaque presented to the department Senior historian submitting the best department history
• Division Certificate of Merit (5 overall awards):  Presented to each department Senior historians who submit the best department histories in each of the five divisions.
• Letter from the National Historian for participation:  Presented to each department Senior historian who submits a department history for competition.