Alex Award
The YALSA Alex Awards (Outside Source) is annually awarded to ten fiction or nonfiction works, published for adults, with significant appeal to teen readers.
The John and Patricia Beatty Award
Sponsored by Book Wholesalers, Inc., the California Library Association's John and Patricia Beatty Award (Outside Source) honors the author of a distinguished book for children or young adults that best promotes an awareness of California and its people.
Pura Belpré Award Illustration Honor/Winner and Pura Belpré Award Narrative Honor/Winner
The Pura Belpré Award (Outside Source), established in 1996, is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian from the New York Public Library. The awards are given biennially.
Caldecott Honor and Caldecott Winner
The Caldecott Medal (Outside Source) was named in honor of nineteenth century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
California Young Reader Medal Program
The California Young Reader Medal Program (Outside Source) program encourages recreational reading of popular literature among the young people of our state. Since its inception in 1974, millions of California children have nominated, read, and voted for the winners of the California Young Reader Medal.
Christopher Award
The Christophers (Outside Source) uses print and electronic media to spread a message of hope and understanding to people of all faiths and of no particular faith. Each year, the creators of films, television programs, and books which "affirm the highest values of the human spirit" are honored at a ceremony in New York City.
Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor/Winner and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honor/Winner
The Coretta Scott King Award (Outside Source) is presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Task Force of the American Library Association's Social Responsibilities Round Table. Recipients are authors and illustrators of African descent whose distinguished books promote an understanding and appreciation of the "American Dream." The Award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and honors his widow, Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination in continuing the work for peace and world brotherhood.
Golden Kite Author Award Honor/Winner and Golden Kite Illustration Award Honor/Winner
The Golden Kite Award (Outside Source) is the only award presented to children's book authors and artists by their fellow authors and artists. Four Golden Kite Statuettes - for fiction, nonfiction, picture book text, and picture-illustration - are awarded each year to the most outstanding children's books published during that year and having been written or illustrated by members of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. An Honor Book plaque in each category is awarded as well. The works chosen are those that the judges feel exhibit excellence in writing, and in the case of the picture-illustrated books - in illustration, and genuinely appeal to the interests and concerns of children.
National Book Award
A consortium of book publishing groups has presented the National Book Award (Outside Source) since 1950. Its goal is to enhance the public's awareness of exceptional books written by fellow Americans and to increase the popularity of reading in general. The award is given in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature.
Newbery Medal Honor and Newbery Medal Winner
The Newbery Medal (Outside Source) was named for eighteenth century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The Newbery Medal is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious children's book prizes.
Nobel Prize
Literature is one of the five prize areas mentioned in Alfred Nobel's will. Nobel stated that a Nobel Prize (Outside Source) be given to those who, during the preceding year, "shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" and that one part be given to the person who "shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency."
Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award
The Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award (Outside Source) was established in 1984 by Scott O'Dell, recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, Newbery Medal, and many other awards. This award recognizes outstanding works of historical fiction. The criteria require that the book be published in English by a U.S. publisher and that it be set in the New World (North, Central, and South America).
Outstanding Books for the College Bound
The American Library Association (ALA) Young Adult Library Services Division puts together the Outstanding Books for the College Bound(Outside Source). This list of books is considered to be outstanding for those pursuing formal higher education or for those who just wish to be better educated. The list is divided into five sections: fiction, biography, nonfiction, drama, and poetry. In selecting these works for the list, the committee used a variety of criteria: readability, cultural and ethnic diversity, balance of points of view, contemporary and classical works, different genres, and availability.
Michael L. Printz Award Honor and Michael L. Printz Award Winner
The Michael L. Printz Award (Outside Source) is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas, school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association.
Pulitzer Prize
In the latter years of the nineteenth century, Joseph Pulitzer stood out as the very embodiment of American journalism. His innovative New York World and St. Louis Post-Dispatch reshaped newspaper journalism. In writing his 1904 will, which made provision for the establishment of the Pulitzer Prizes (Outside Source) as an incentive to excellence, Pulitzer specified solely four awards in journalism, four in letters and drama, one for education, and four traveling scholarships. Since the inception of the prizes in 1917, the board, later renamed the Pulitzer Prize Board, has increased the number of awards to 21 and introduced poetry, music, and photography as subjects, while adhering to the spirit of the founder's will and its intent.
