For Immediate Release                           Contact:Terry Allen
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                                                        (212) 502-7674
American Foundation for the Blind Invites Nominations for Best Narrators of
Talking Books

NEW YORK-The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is inviting
nominations for the 13th Alexander Scourby Narrator of the Year Awards. The
awards were established by AFB in memory of one of its most popular
narrators, who recorded for the Talking Books program for nearly 50 years.
        Two Scourby Awards will be presented, representing outstanding narration
in fiction (including mysteries, westerns, science fiction, romance, and
adventure) and nonfiction. All Talking Books readers are eligible to
nominate a Talking Books narrator in each category. A third, "special
recognition" Scourby Award will also be given at the awards ceremony and
reception, tentatively scheduled for June.
        To cast your vote, send your choices (one per category) to the American
Foundation for the Blind, Communications Group, 11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300,
New York, NY 10001; e-mail: [log in to unmask]; telephone: 1-800-AFB-LINE
(232-5463). Submissions must be made no later than March 26, 1999.
        At the end of the balloting period, the three nominees receiving the most
votes in each category will be declared finalists. Demonstration tapes of
each narrator's work will then be produced and distributed to a blue-ribbon
panel of Talking Books readers from across the country who will select the
winners.
        Previous recipients are not eligible for the Alexander Scourby Narrator of
the Year Award. They are: Bob Askey (1987); Merwin Smith (1988); Suzanne
Toren (1989); Roy Avers, John Stratton, and Laura Giannarelli (1990);
Yvonne Fair Tessler, Patrick Horgan, Bruce Huntey, and Pam Ward (1991);
Jill Ferris, Gordon Gould, and Barbara Caruso (1992); John Horton, Mitzi
Friedlander, and Graciella Lecube (1993); Madelyn Buzzard, Randy Atcher,
and Ralph Lowenstein (1994); Christopher Hurt, Ray Foushee, and Bob Butz
(1995); Chuck Benson, Lou Harpenau, and Catherine Byers (1996); Mary Woods,
Jack Fox, and Ed Blake (1997); and Graeme Malcolm, Mimi Bederman, and Jake
Williams (1998).
        Talking Books is a program of the National Library Service for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress. Anyone in America
with a visual or physical disability that prevents reading of conventional
print materials is eligible to receive Talking Books and special playback
machines free of charge from 160 regional libraries throughout the United
States.
        The American Foundation for the Blind-the agency to which Helen Keller
devoted more than 40 years of her life-is a national, nonprofit
organization whose mission is to enable people who are blind or visually
impaired to achieve equality of access and opportunity that will ensure
freedom of choice in their lives. Headquartered in New York City, AFB
maintains offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco, and a
governmental relations office in Washington, DC.
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