Created in 1996, this award offers a $600 stipend to enable new or aspiring independent information professionals to attend the AIIP Annual Conference. The committee will solicit applications which address the following questions, using no more than a total of 500 words.:

1. What are your plans and goals for developing an independent information business during the next five years?

2. Why do you want to go to the AIIP Annual Conference?

3. Have you attended an AIIP Conference before?

4. What steps have you taken to become a successful entrepreneur?

Recipients will be members who agree to attend the Annual Business Meeting at the AIIP Conference, prepare an article for Connections about his/her impressions and what he/she learned at the conference, and allow his/her name to be used in promoting the conference and the Association. Preference will be given to new Full Members with no outside travel or training funds available and who have not previously attended an AIIP Annual Conference. The winner will be announced no later than one month prior to the first day of the Annual Conference. The winner will have 72 hours to indicate whether he/she will attend the conference. If he/she cannot attend, the award will go to the first runner up. Nominations will be solicited via the monthly broadcast e-mail, AIIP-L, and the Winter issue of Connections. The deadline for applications should be one month before the announcement date. The Award will be forfeited if the winner cannot attend the upcoming AIIP Conference. The award will be given once all conditions have been met. Recipients will be asked to submit an expense form after the conference.

Background

Myra T. Grenier was an entrepreneur who was always ahead of her time, always on the cutting edge and always promoting information brokerages as a bonafide profession - not just a hobby or sideline. Myra was a librarian and online searcher from the beginning of the online industry. She founded her company Seek Information Service in 1976 and was president until her retirement in 1994 when she assumed the post of Chair of the Board. She was a founding or charter member of both SCOUG (Southern California Online Users Group) and AIIP. She believed that the formation of AIIP was one giant step forward for the profession.

The MTG Award, given for the first time in 1997, perpetuates Myra's uplifting spirit, belief and passion for the profession of independent information broker. The Award also pays tribute to someone who contributed a great part of her life to the concept of building your own information business.