The Estela and Raúl Mora Award

Who were Estela and Raúl Mora?
Raúl (Roy) Mora came to El Paso, Texas from Chihuahua as a young boy at the time of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Estela (Stella) was born in El Paso as were her four children. Bilingual, loving parents, Estela and Raúl took great pride in their children's successes. Raúl, a hard-working father with a great sense of humor, established and owned the United Optical Company. Stella, a homemaker who loved learning and books, helped with her husband's business, was active in her children's school (President of the PTA), and later worked part-time teaching and translating Spanish. Articulate in both languages, she was Pat’s first speech coach and editor.

Pat’s parents, her sister Cissy and Pat

What is the Estela and Raúl Mora Award?
In 1996, Pat founded Children's Day, Book Day, El día de los niños, El día de los libros (Día), a family literacy initiative that advocates daily linking all children with books through creative literacy. REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking, became her first organizational partner. In 2000, Pat and REFORMA established the Estela and Raúl Mora Award to honor Pat’s parents and to motivate libraries to celebrate Children's Day, Book Day, El día de los niños, El día de los libros (Día) on or near April 30th. Hundreds of annual culminating celebrations of "bookjoy" are held in libraries, schools, educational institutions, youth-serving organizations and homes across the country in April.

The 2014 award was the 20th Estela and Raúl Mora Award and the last year that REFORMA members served as judges for the Award. Pat and her family are deeply grateful to the hard-working REFORMA Presidents, and the committee chairs and members who served as judges for fifteen years.

In 2016, Día's 20th anniversary year, First Book began serving as judges for our Mora Awards. Winners receive a $1,000 First Book Marketplace credit and a plaque to be displayed in a public area by the winning institution, plus two honor awards of $500 in First Book Marketplace credits. Visit First Book for more information and an application.

Past Estela and Raúl Mora Award Winners