The American Booksellers Association has named sixty-nine winners of scholarships to the 2020 Winter Institute (Wi15), which will take place January 21–24 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sarah Holliday of Fabled Bookshop and Café in Waco and Sabrina Caldwell of The Book Haus in New Braunfels won Wi15 scholarships.

Like last year, individual Wi15 scholarship recipients will not be matched with individual sponsors; instead, a portion of total fees raised by Winter Institute sponsorships are being dedicated to funding as many bookseller scholarships for as many new and different stores as possible.

There are a limited number of sponsorship opportunities remaining for Wi15; interested publishers can contact ABA Director of Development and Publisher Relations Matt Zoni. 

“We are enormously grateful for the generous support of our sponsors,” said Zoni. “In addition to lead sponsor Ingram, this year we have over one hundred large and small publisher sponsors without which the Winter Institute would not be possible and which have contributed to funding an extraordinary number of bookseller scholarships. We encourage all ABA members to join us in thanking our sponsors for their ongoing commitment to independent bookselling.”

Booksellers at all ABA member stores that have never attended a Winter Institute or that have not attended in the last seven years were eligible to win a Winter Institute scholarship. Scholarships will cover the conference fee, four nights plus tax at a hotel in the ABA block, and transportation costs up to four hundred dollars. An additional scholarship winner will be drawn from booksellers who drop off their card at the ABA booth during the fall regional trade shows.

Registration for Winter Institute 15 will open at 1:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, September 18 (registrations received before that time will not be honored). ABA announced the complete program for the event on Wednesday, September 11; booksellers are encouraged to review the schedule when beginning to book travel.