VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA – May 13th, 2026 – PressReader, in collaboration with The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2026 IFLA PressReader International Marketing Award. This award celebrates exceptional library marketing campaigns that showcase innovation, impact and community engagement. This year, we received more than 120 outstanding and diverse submissions from around the world.
Our top three finalists were chosen for their outstanding and innovative contributions to library marketing. First place receives €3,500, second €2,500, and third €2,000 to support their attendance at the 2026 World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) in Busan, South Korea. The Award also honours the top 10 submissions with certificates of recognition and a Premium PressReader subscription. The winners are invited to showcase their best practices in marketing at an award ceremony at WLIC. This represents an extraordinary opportunity for libraries around the world to shine a spotlight on their achievements and share valuable insights.
Award winners
The 2026 winners are:
● 1st Place – Hulunbuir Library (China) for “Reading Through Cold for Warmth”: €3,500
● 2nd Place – Shenzhen Library (China) for “Under Library”: €2,500
● 3rd Place – For My Stories (SeeArt Foundation) (South Korea) for “The Third Time Project”: €2,000
This year’s first prize is awarded to Hulunbuir Library (China). Their campaign “Reading Through Cold for Warmth” stands out as a simple yet profoundly effective public welfare initiative, transforming climate into both stage and message. By connecting voice, storytelling, and technology (with NFC-enabled cards), it creates a deeply human, shareable experience with social impact. The campaign demonstrates a sharp strategic alignment between purpose, execution, and amplification, resulting in strong public resonance and broad media reach. The Jury was unanimous in their praise for this campaign, that is both scalable and inspiring.
Second place goes to Shenzhen Library (China) for “Under Library”, a campaign that clearly distinguished itself through its immersive marketing approach. The journey from “shelf to self” is grounded in deep insight, strategically executed, rigorously measured, and delivers outstanding results. Overall, it represents an exceptionally strong initiative. It compellingly demonstrates how libraries can regain public relevance and appeal in the digital age.
Third place is awarded to For My Stories (SeeArt Foundation) from South Korea for “The Third Time Project”. This submission reframes the library as a self-directed “Third Time” (a third space beyond home and school) for young people aged 9-19, designed for today’s attention economy. It treats books as “verbs”, placing them alongside creative tools and peer-made artwork so reading can immediately prompt making and doing. The Jury valued its robust evaluation methods (real-time visitation and revisit tracking) as a clear, behavioural measure of relevance with a notoriously hard-to-reach demographic.
“The steadily increasing number of entries for the award is a sign of great things to come. It’s a testament to the creative energy, exceptional work, and innovative marketing campaigns being developed by libraries. As a jury, we are always amazed by the brilliant ideas and the long-lasting impact of these campaigns.”
– Elena Stöhr, Jury Chair
“We look forward to these awards every year, and this year didn’t disappoint. It’s inspirational to see the creativity and care that libraries put into connecting with and engaging their communities. Congratulations to all the winners, and everyone that applied.”
– James Fairbotham, Director of Libraries, PressReader
Along with the top three winners, the next seven organizations and their campaigns (in alphabetical order) are recognized for their successful approaches to library marketing:
• Dongguan Library (China): Ageless Picture Books, Boundless Reading Encounters
• Heping Library (China): Library Never Sleeps
• Jiangxi Provincial Library (China): Read Classics, Write Dreams
• Pioneer Library System (United States of America): Collaborating to Spark a Change
• Shaanxi Library (China): Walking the City: A 900-Year Detour Through Time
• SP Leituras (Brazil): Percurso Mata Atlântica
• State Library of Queensland (Australia): How Do You Library?
Special Mentions
The 2026 IFLA PressReader International Marketing Award Jury also recognized five special mentions. Although these campaigns did not place in the top 10, the Jury was very impressed and chose to highlight the following as examples of great library marketing:
• Biblioteca Pública Municipal de Cobisa (Spain): Cerrado por cambio de actividad (Staged Closure for International Library Day)
• Guangzhou Library (China): Visual Empowerment
• Handan Library (China): Shared Language Bridge: Helping Deaf and Hearing Children Understand One Another
• LibrariesSA (Australia): Firstival
• Ningbo Children’s Library & Department of Information Management at Peking University (China): Peek-a-Book: A Crowdsourced, Child-Friendly Picture Book Search System
Award Ceremony at WLIC
We are excited to invite the winners to present their campaigns during the official Award Ceremony at WLIC 2026 in Busan, South Korea.
More details about the session and logistics will be shared with the IFLA community in the coming weeks.
About the IFLA PressReader International Marketing Award
Members of the IFLA PressReader International Marketing Award Jury are drawn from the membership of the IFLA Standing Committee on Management & Marketing. The Jury consists of library management and marketing experts Cory Greenwood (Australia), Roxana Huaman Huriarte (Peru), Fan Ji (China), Cathelijne Kuiters (Netherlands), Lise McLeod (Switzerland), Joe Mocnik (United States of America) and Elena Stöhr (Germany). All Jury members had equal say and voice in the deliberations.
Headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, IFLA is the global voice of libraries, representing the interests of the profession and working to improve services worldwide. With a member base from around 150 countries in all regions, IFLA’s mission is to inspire, engage, enable and connect the global library field.
About PressReader
PressReader helps public libraries connect their communities to quality content and entertainment through a single, easy-to-use digital platform. With a catalog of more than 8,000 newspapers and magazines from over 120 countries — including leading titles like The New York Times, The Economist and USA Today — as well as a vast selection of books and daily puzzles, PressReader empowers libraries to offer all-you-can-read access that supports entertainment, literacy and curiosity.
Since 1999, PressReader has been a pioneer in digital content curation and distribution. Today, the company partners with thousands of leading publishers and libraries worldwide to make global content more accessible, inclusive and sustainable.
To learn more, click here.
