Prime Time Family Reading receives prestigious Library of Congress award
September 12, 2025
We’re excited to announce that the national Prime Time Family Reading curriculum has won a 2025 Literacy Award from the Library of Congress!
Created by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and delivered in our state by Humanities Washington, the award recognizes programs that “provide exemplary, innovative and replicable strategies that promote literacy.” Since a big expansion in 2023, more than 200 partners have come together to present 177 Prime Time Reading programs. Prime Time has reached 49 communities, serving more than 8,285 children and their parents.
News of the award comes the same week that the National Association for Educational Progress announced that high school reading proficiency has hit an all-time low. Further, budget cuts in Washington State have eliminated funding for the Prime Time program, as have DOGE cuts to Humanities Washington.
The program has positively impacted reading scores and student confidence and participation in the classroom: 95% of participants report reading more as a family, and 93% of children improving their attitude towards reading. State cuts, combined with the recent gutting of the National Endowment for the Humanities by DOGE, have left the future of Prime Time Family Reading in limbo.
Prime Time is a community program, and we are hopeful that with individual, corporate, and foundation donations, we will be able to continue to offer Prime Time in 2026. All contributions matter—$10 will buy a book, $1,000 will buy a set of program books, $10,000 will support a whole program in a community; all contributions at all levels will help us get closer to our goal of creating a competent and curious community of readers.
We’re delighted that Prime Time has received prestigious national recognition, and we need your help to keep the program alive in Washington State.
“We all absolutely love the program,” said a program coordinator in Vancouver recently. “It’s exactly what our community needs to foster growth, connection, and learning.”