ILA's 30 Under 30 list celebrates the rising innovators, disruptors, and visionaries in the literacy field.
Nominate a literacy champion
ILA’s 30 Under 30 list is released biennially and nominations are accepted on a rolling basis. Submit a nomination for yourself or a colleague by June 1, 2026, to be considered for our 2027 list.
Honorees will be announced in the January/February/March 2027 issue of Literacy Today and will be promoted across ILA's platforms. Each honoree receives a complimentary one-year ILA membership, is recognized at an ILA event, and joins a dynamic network of literacy leaders.
30 Under 30 honorees become important members of the ILA family. Past recipients have served as session presenters and moderators at our in-person and digital events. They have written extensively through our publishing platforms, volunteered for task forces, and become valuable members of our local chapters and affiliates.
Prior lists
Click below to read about past 30 Under 30 honorees.
Keeping up with 30 Under 30
We continue to highlight the work of our 30 Under 30 recipients beyond the release of each list. Check out what some past honorees have been up to:
- Storyshares: Louise Baigelman’s Big Idea That Might Change The World, Medium — May 4, 2024 (Louise Baigelman, 2015)
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NJ Resident Sets Record for Longest Book Drive, NJ Monthly — February 21, 2023 (Marley Dias, 2019)
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Teacher’s ‘Welcome to Kindergarten’ music video is a must-watch for calming first-day jitters, TODAY — August 15, 2022 (Dwayne Reed, 2021)
- Camden Native, PhD Student, and Award-Winning Educator Returns Home to Create Positive Learning Spaces for Children, Rutgers-Camden News Now — September 13, 2021 (Elaysel Germán, 2021)
- Book Access in the Post-COVID Era, ILA Webinar — July 14, 2020 (Allister Chang and Karlos Marshall, 2019)
- Springfield Nonprofit Honored by Library of Congress, Springfield News-Sun — September 15, 2019 (Karlos Marshall, 2019)
- When a Laundromat Becomes a Library, PBS News Hour — April 2, 2019 (Allister Chang, 2019)
- 'This Is How We'll Change the Country' — Inside Kabul's Book Bus, Aljazeera — March 7, 2019 (Freshta Karim, 2019)
- CommonLit Nabs $3.5 Million Grant From Google, technical.ly/dc — Oct. 9, 2018 (Michelle Brown, 2016)
- Development Fellow Selected for Inaugural Facebook Community Leadership Program, The Asia Foundation — Sept. 25, 2018 (Surya Karki, 2016)
- Wisconsin Teen’s Creative Writing Program Kids Tales Has Global Reach, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — Aug. 25, 2017 (Katie Eder, 2015)
- #ILAchat: Empowering Girls Through Education, Mar. 14, 2017 (Kellyn Sirach, 2016)
- #ILAchat: Student Advocacy, Oct. 13, 2016 (Deborah Ahenkorah Osei-Agyekum, Alex Corbitt, John Maldonado, and Kellyn Sirach, 2016)
- She Walks in Their Shoes to Understand Their Challenges, School News Network — Oct. 31, 2016 (Kathryn Lett, 2016)
- ILA 2016 Closing General Session, July 11, 2016 (Ana Dodson, 2015)
- #ILAchat: Empowering Young Literacy Leaders, Nov. 12, 2015 (Jon Wargo, Louise Baigelman, Ana Dodson, and Kevin English, 2015)