Introducing the Recipient of the 2025 Caroline Gill Award for Exceptional Volunteer Service!
Children’s Literature Council of Southern California (CLCSC) is proud to announce the recipient of the 2025 Caroline Gill Award for Exceptional Volunteer Service, Ms. Katherine Piña-Garcia.
Katherine Piña-Garcia, LAPL Volunteer
Ms. Piña-Garcia has spent the last fifteen years volunteering with Los Angeles Public Library’s (LAPL) Story Telling and Reading (STAR) program at the Arroyo Seco Library Branch. She reads weekly to families, completing over 100 hours of service with babies, toddlers, and their families in 2024, a record she’s on track to match in 2025.
Her involvement engaging children and families in the library has established Ms. Piña-Garcia as a cherished member of the community and has helped to establish lifelong readers, as she invites new families into the ‘book nook,’ helps them build their own personal libraries with giveaway books, and encouraging them to participate in library programs.
Her service as a volunteer at the Arroyo Seco Library has created readers and strengthened family units for over a decade, and we are confident that her contributions pay homage to Caroline Gill’s work and efforts.
~~~ About the Award ~~~
The Caroline Gill Award for Exceptional Volunteer Service was created by the CLCSC Board of Directors in 2024 in order to highlight contributions of an individual to the field of literature for young people and children’s literacy.
To be eligible, nominees must have volunteered within the last year at an existing Southern California institution or program that promotes literacy and engagement with literature among children and/or adolescents. This includes libraries, schools, and book gifting programs.
Note: Southern California is defined as that part of the state south of and including the counties of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and San Bernardino.
Consider submitting your exceptional volunteers in 2026. Self- nominations will also be accepted.
Questions? Concerns? Please contact: president@childrensliteraturecouncil.org
In honor of Caroline Gill, CLCSC Board Emeritus in Memoriam