Every year, Children's Books Ireland presents an award in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the world of children's books. This award is made as part of CBI's Annual Conference.
Members of CBI are invited to make nominations for the award and the final selection is made by the board of CBI.  

Previous recipients have included Robert Dunbar, Clodagh Corcoran, Valerie Coghlan, Liz Morris, Eilís Dillon, Celia Keenan, Mary Carroll, Pat Donlon, Rena Dardis, Carolyn Swift and Tony Hickey.

The 2009 award was presented to Rosemary Hetherington, librarian with Dublin City Libraries. In her citation, Jane O'Hanlon, chairperson of CBI, said

This year's recipient has worked in the area of Children's Books for over 20 years. Through her work in The Children's and Schools Section of Dublin City Libraries she has become - and is - an acknowledged 'expert' in the area of children's books. Within the libraries, in classrooms and alongside parents and teachers she has worked tirelessly to promote children's books over the years - and continues to do so. It is precisely this kind of dedication - which can be a hidden feature of the work that goes on to day after day - to ensure that as many children as possible encounter and come into contact with books that this award seeks to recognise!

 
I worked with Rosemary for 10 years and it was her sheer love and enthusiasm for children's books which was infectious. She strongly believed that access to books was the key to good literacy skills and she worked tirelessly to provide as wide a range of books as possible to children in schools and public libraries. Her aim, she always maintained, "was to bring children and books together".

As the librarian in the School & Children's Section of Dublin City Libraries, she has contact with a wide circle of people whom she influences with her energy and enthusiasm for books. She recites, reads and communicates her great interest with spontaneity and is always ready to repeat a quotation from one of the literary gurus regarding the value of reading and how beneficial it is for one and all.
 

Apart from all of this work her contribution has been immense in other areas. She has been:

• Chair and administrator of the CBI BISTO Book of the Year Awards
• President of CBI
• A Trustee of the Irish Children's Books Trust