Booksellers interested in entering the drawing for publisher-sponsored scholarships to the Fourth Annual Winter Institute [3] (Wi4) have until next Friday, October 17, to submit their names and contact information to the American Booksellers Association. The scholarships, supported by 25 of ABA's Publisher Partners, will cover the cost of reasonable transportation and up to a three-night stay at the Salt Lake Marriott Downtown, the host hotel for Wi4.

The comprehensive ABA education program, sponsored by Ingram Book Company/Ingram Publisher Services, will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, from Thursday, January 29, through Sunday, February 1, 2009, and is open exclusively to booksellers at ABA member stores and to provisional members.

Owners and staff at ABA member bookstores may enter their names in the scholarship drawing by sending an e-mail to [email protected] [4]. The e-mail must say "Wi4 Scholarship" in the subject line, and the body of the e-mail must include the bookstore's name and the bookseller's name and contact information. Booksellers who dropped off a business card at the ABA booth at any one of the nine regional trade shows are also automatically entered in the scholarship drawing. Scholarship winners will be chosen at random and will be announced in Bookselling This Week by the end of October.

The registration for Wi4 closes on Friday, November 21, and is capped at 500. Spaces are being filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

ABA has negotiated a special room rate of $122 per night at the Salt Lake Marriott Downtown for Wednesday, January 28, through Sunday, February 1, exclusively for ABA bookstore and provisional members. The special rate is available until Monday, January 5, or until the group block is sold out, whichever comes first. All hotel reservations must be made through the hotel (a link to the hotel's special Wi4 reservations web page is here [5] and on BookWeb.org [6]).