The Literacy Bridges Project, a program which aims to provide quality literature to students living in New Brunswick Housing Projects, was awarded the 2012 Dr. Marilyn Trenholme Counsell Literacy Award in the category of Community Literacy Programs on November 22, 2012 at Tantramar Regional High School in Sackville, New Brunswick. Through partnerships with the Anglophone North School District (Bathurst) the Bathurst Rotary Club, Poverty Reduction, IODE, Upper Dawson and Edgewood Tenants’ Association and the Bathurst High School Rotary Interact Club, monthly literacy sessions are held at each of the community centres. At each event guest readers from the community are invited in to read carefully chosen literature to students, who in turn complete crafts based on the theme of the selection and a pizza party then ends the session. The project has run since 2009 and is under the direction of Beth Stymiest, Senior Education Officer for Anglophone North School District, Audrey Ronalds, Community Engagement Coordinator for Anglophone North School District, and Jessi Stever, a teacher with Anglophone North School District. Each child receives a copy of the book for their own personal library. A 20-year study, carried out at the University of Nevada, has shown that the presence of book-lined shelves in the home gives children an enormous advantage in school. Home library size has a substantial effect on educational attainment, even adjusting for parents’ education, fathers’ occupational status and other family background characteristics. Each addition to a home library helps children get a little further ahead in school and the greatest impact in having books in the home is on children from the least educated families. Where books are rare, additional books matter. Shown in the photo, from left to right, are Beth Stymiest, Audrey Gammon, Jessi Stever and Shari Fitch, Honorary Chairperson of the Literacy Coalition