2025 David Vaisey Award Winners Announced! See the nominees and winners here
Thanks to the David Vaisey Award, we successfully combined creativity and literacy to bring families together, foster a love for learning, and expand the reach of library services into underrepresented and isolated areas. Planning for next year’s festival is already underway, promising even greater impact.
Thank you so much for your recognition of the importance of this and the opportunities winning this award has given us: even after several months and a lot of work we are still so excited and passionate about the project.
The David Vaisey Trust (also known as the Vaisey Trust) is a small charity that makes awards to public and state school libraries in Gloucestershire.
We know that libraries play a vital role in helping more people read more books. This is a social justice issue and we see the role of librarians, particularly those serving school libraries, as vital to strengthening a culture of reading. Since 2016, The David Vaisey Trust has supported many varied library initiatives that bring people and books together. Our awards, presented each year at the Cheltenham Festival of Literature, celebrate the creativity and energy of librarians. The money we award goes directly to support the work of these librarians within their communities. Funds raised this year will support our expansion into the school sector in order to increase our impact and continue our vital work to support the life-enhancing love of reading.
Thank you for your support.
The Awards
Each year the Trustees appoint a panel of seven judges with expertise in the literary field which, under the guidance of their Chair, painstakingly assesses every submission.
Each library that enters the competition receives £100. Entries are whittled down, first to a long list and, later, to a short list of those eligible for annual Awards running into thousands of pounds – depending inter alia on viability and potential.
Public Libraries: Coleford Library. Oakley Interactive Space and the Matson, Quedgeley and Tuffley group.
Schools: Farmor’s School (Fairford), Severnbanks Primary School (Lydney), Kingswood Primary and Tredworth Infants and Nursery Academy.
Young Person’s Awards: Ted Holloway (age 15, Dursley Library) and Emily Stevenson (age 16, Coleford Library).
Supporting the Vaisey Trust
The Vaisey Trust is now registered with the Benefact Group, united by a common purpose to give all available profits to charity and good causes.
Established in 2016, the David Vaisey Charitable Trust has not only made a major contribution to the continued success of the Gloucestershire Libraries organisation, it has effectively improved literacy and made a significant contribution to social cohesion across the county.
