Award-Winning Children's Literature

The Amelia Bloomer Project, a committee of the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table, compiles the Amelia Bloomer List, an annual annotated book list (or bibliography) of well-written and well-illustrated books with significant feminist content, intended for young readers (ages birth through 18).

Each year a committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) identifies the best of the best in children's books. Books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for ages birth to 14 that reflect and encourage children's interests in exemplary ways are considered for the list.

This award, sponsored by the Margaret A. Edwards Trust, honors ten adult books with special appeal to teens. The Alex committee also publishes its official nomination list after the awards announcement.

The Américas Award is given in recognition of U.S. works of fiction, poetry, folklore, or selected non-fiction (from picture books to works for young adults) published in the previous year in English or Spanish that authentically and engagingly portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States. The award is sponsored by the national Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP).

The Children's Literature Legacy Award honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. (Formerly the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award)

Established in 1988, the award honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. The award recognizes an author's work in helping adolescents become aware of themselves and addressing questions about their role and importance in relationships, society, and in the world.

Rainbow Books presents an annual bibliography of quality books with significant and authentic GLBTQ content, which are recommended for people from birth through eighteen years of age. Rainbow Books is a joint project of the Rainbow Round Table and the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association.

National Council for the Social Studies established the Carter G. Woodson Book Awards for the most distinguished social science books appropriate for young readers that depict ethnicity in the United States.

First presented in 1949, the Christopher Awards were established by Christopher founder Father James Keller to salute media that “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.” Award winners encourage audiences to see the better side of human nature and motivate artists and the general public to use their best instincts on behalf of others.

This award is given for the best poetry book of the year for young readers. A longtime member of the Committee, Claudia Lewis was an esteemed poet, author, and teacher of children's literature. She served on the faculty at Bank Street College of Education.

Awarded by the Council for Exceptions Children’s Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities, the Dolly Gray award recognizes authors, illustrators, and publishers of high quality literature that appropriately portrays individuals with developmental disabilities.

This award is given for a nonfiction book that serves as an inspiration to young readers. Flora Stieglitz Straus chaired the Children's Book Committee for over sixty years.

The Giverny Award is an annual award established in 1998 by Dr. Jim Wandersee and Dr. Eisabeth E. Schussler for the 15º Laboratory, currently based at Louisiana State University. It is awarded to the author and to the illustrator of a children's science picture book written in the English language and published within five years of the award date. The book must teach its young reader at least one important scientific principle, or encourage the reader toward specific science-related pursuits or inquiry.

The Gryphon Award of $1,000 is given annually in recognition of an English language work of fiction or non-fiction for which the primary audience is children in Kindergarten through Grade 4. The title chosen best exemplifies those qualities that successfully bridge the gap in difficulty between books for reading aloud to children and books for practiced readers.

This award is given each year to honor a book or books of outstanding literary merit in which children or young people deal in a positive and realistic way with difficulties in their world and grow emotionally and morally.

Awarded by the Middle East Outreach Council, the Middle East Book Awards recognize quality books for children and young adults that contribute meaningfully to an understanding of the Middle East and its component societies and cultures.

This award honors books for younger readers (from “Young Adults” to picture books for beginning readers), in the tradition of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia.

Awarded by the Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association, the Notable Books for a Global Society honors books that enhance student understanding of people and cultures throughout the world.

The United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBYP) selects an annual list of international books that are deemed most outstanding of those published during the calendar year.

The books that appear in these lists were selected as outstanding children's science trade books. They were selected by a book review panel appointed by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and assembled in cooperation with the Children’s Book Council (CBC). NSTA and CBC have cooperated on this bibliographic project since 1973.

The award, given to a book originally published in the English language, is intended to recognize books of high literary merit. The Phoenix Award is named after the fabled bird who rose from its ashes with renewed life and beauty. Phoenix books also rise from the ashes of neglect and obscurity and once again touch the imaginations and enrich the lives of those who read them.

The Sid Fleischman Humor Award is an award for authors whose work exemplifies the excellence of writing in the genre of humor. The SCBWI established the award to honor humorous work, so often overlooked in children’s literature by other award committees. Current winners are announced and listed with the Golden Kite awards.

The South Asia Book Award, administered by the South Asia National Outreach Consortium, recognizes outstanding works of literature, from early childhood to secondary reading levels, which accurately and skillfully portray South Asia or South Asians in the diasporas.

Texas State University College of Education developed the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award to honor authors and illustrators who create literature that depicts the Mexican American experience. The award was established in 1995 and was named in honor of Dr. Tomás Rivera, a distinguished alumnus of Texas State University.