The Magdalena Aguayo Literacy Champion Award is presented annually at the Reach Out and Read Colorado Statewide Conference. The award is given to an outstanding Site Coordinator, Medical Consultant, or community member who goes above and beyond for Reach Out and Read and early literacy.

The award is named for Magdalena Aguayo, a retired Physician's Assistant and former Site Coordinator at Denver Health's Sandos Westside Family Health Center. During her career, Magdalena has given thousandds of books and literacy guidance to young children and their families. She is still very active with Reach Out and Read, serving as a volunteer reader at Denver Health and training other providers in the ROR model.

2009 Recipient
Representative Mark Ferrandino, House District 2
Representative Ferrandino is a champion for children. He has worked towards increasing child health insurance and promoting good learning environments. Representative Ferrandino is a champion for Reach Out and Read Colorado by sharing our mission with his legislative colleagues and constituents, informing various state departments about the importance of Reach Out and Read and working to ensure that Colorado's children have books as part of pediatric healthcare.

2008 Recipient
Maggie Ramirez, ROR Coordinator Clinica Family Health Services
Maggie is the ROR Coordinator for Clinica's four locations: Lafayette, Thronton, Pecos, and People's Clinic. She was honored for her passionate dedication to ROR and its mission. In addition to her work as ROR Coordinator, Ramirez serves on the ROR CO Program Advisory Committee and assists with special events throughout the year.

2007 Recipient
Alexandra Smith, ROR Coordinator, Valley Wide Health Systems
Alex serves as Site Coordinator for 8 Valley-Wide clinics in Southwest Colorado. In a little over a year and at just 8 hours a week, she secured funding from Valley-Wide to create literacy rich waiting areas at all of her sites. She also organized trainings for all of her clinics. In addition, she worked with administrators to clarify JCAHO standards resulting in VWHS ROR clinics now having gently used books in waiting rooms.

2006 Recipient
Magdalena Aguayo, Provider and Site Coordinator, Denver Health's Westside Clinic
Magdalena is a Physician's Assistant at Denver Health's Sandos Westside Family Health Center. Magdalena is retiring this year from Westside where she has been providing ROR on a daily basis for the past decade. She helped start and coordinates the program in her clinic. Magdalena has given thosands of books and literacy guidance to her young patients and will miss this interaction when she retires.