Goddard Riverside Launches Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice

The Goddard Riverside Community Center has launched the Stephan Russo Book Prize, a new literary award that will celebrate the power of the written word to create change in the name of justice for all people—a value shared by the publishing community and Goddard Riverside Community Center. The prize will recognize books that focus on housing, early childhood and secondary education, older adult life, city arts, social policy, and other important aspects of community life that support and promote Goddard Riverside’s mission. It will be given each year at Goddard Riverside’s Book Fair Gala in the fall. The prize is named for Goddard Riverside’s longtime Executive Director Stephan Russo.

To be eligible for the 2017 Book Prize, nominated books must have been published in the United States between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. For submission purposes, published books and bound galleys or bound manuscripts for books not yet printed will be accepted. Page proofs are not acceptable. 

The 2017 judges at present include Jeffrey Toobin, New Yorker staff writer and CNN legal analyst; Barbara Simon, associate professor at the Columbia School of Social Work; Douglas Bauer, executive director of the Clark Foundation; and Michael Zisser, recently retired CEO of University Settlement and the Door. After a preliminary vetting to determine eligibility, judges will read and evaluate submissions to select the winner, collaborating as necessary. The panel convenes in the fall in New York City to decide the winner. The winner is announced at the Goddard Riverside Book Fair Gala, which takes place in mid-October in New York City.