This Year’s Winners of the ALA Youth Media Awards

The winners of this year’s American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards have been announced. These awards, often colloquially referred to as the Oscars of children’s literature, honor the best books published for young people in the prior year. This year’s winners are as follows:

American Indian Youth Literature Award

• Picture Book Winners: Forever Cousins by Laurel Goodluck (Mandan & Hidatsa and Tsimshian), illustrated by Jonathan Nelson (Navajo/Diné) and A Letter for Bob by Kim Rogers (Wichita & Affiliated Tribes), illustrated by Jonathan Nelson (Navajo/Diné)
• Picture Book Honors: Celebration by Lily Hope (Tlingit), illustrated by Kelsey Mata Foote (Tlingit); Contenders by Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation), illustrated by Arigon Starr (Kickapoo Tribe); Berry Song written and illustrated by Michaela Goade (Tlingit Nation) and published by Little; Remember by Joy Harjo (Mvskoke Nation), illustrated by Michaela Goade (Tlingit Nation); and Rock Your Mocs by Laurel Goodluck (Mandan & Hidatsa and Tsimshian), illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight (Chickasaw Nation)
• Middle Grade Winner: We Still Belong by Christine Day (Upper Skagit), illus by Madelyn Godonighat (Chickasaw Nation)
• Middle Grade Honors: Eagle Drums written and illustrated by Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson (Iñupiaq); Mascot by Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation) and Charles Waters, jacket illustration by Nicole Neidhardt (Navajo); Jo Jo Makoons: Fancy Pants by Dawn Quigley (Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe), illustrated by Tara Audibert (Wolastoqey); Jo Jo Makoons: Snow Day by Dawn Quigley (Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe), illustrated by Tara Audibert (Wolastoqey); She Persisted: Maria Tallchief by Christine Day (Upper Skagit), illustrated by Alexandra Boiger and Gillian Flint; She Persisted: Wilma Mankiller by Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation), illustrated by Alexandra Boiger and Gillian Flint; She Persisted: Deb Haaland by Laurel Goodluck (Mandan & Hidatsa and Tsimshian), illustrated by Alexandra Boiger and Gillian Flint
• Young Adult Winner: Rez Ball by Byron Graves (Ojibwe), jacket art by Natasha Donovan (Metis)
• Young Adult Honors: Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), Funeral Songs for Dying Girls by Cherie Dimaline (Métis), Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers (Cherokee Nation), Running with Changing Woman by Lorinda Martinez (Diné), Heroes of the Water Monster by Brian Young (Navajo Nation)

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature

The Sydney Taylor Book Award

For books that most authentically represent the Jewish experience

Schneider Family Book Award

For books that authentically depict the disability experience

The Stonewall Book Awards

For books with exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award

Coretta Scott King – John Steptoe New Talent Award

Coretta Scott King Book Award for Illustrator

Coretta Scott King Book Award for Author

Pura Belpré Awards

The Alex Awards

For the best books published for an adult audience with teen appeal

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults

William C Morris Award for Best Debut YA

Margaret A. Edwards Award

For significant and enduring contribution to the world of youth literature

Michael L. Printz Award

Given to the most distinguished work of literature for young adults

• Winner: The Collectors edited by AS King, with contributions from M.T. Anderson, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, A.S. King, David Levithan, Cory McCarthy, Anna-Marie McLemore, G. Neri, Jason Reynolds, Randy Ribay, and Jenny Torres Sanchez
• Honor: Fire from the Sky by Moa Backe Astot
• Honor: Gather by Kenneth M. Cadow
• Honor: The Girl I Am Was and Never Will Be by Shannon Gibney
• Honor: Salt the Water by Candice Iloh

Mildred L. Batchelder Award

Given for the best children’s books in translation

Robert F. Sibert Medal

Honoring the best informational books for children

The Odyssey Award

For best audiobooks for young listeners

The Children’s Literature Legacy Award

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award

For the most distinguished beginning reader book

Caldecott Awards

These honor the most distinguished picture books for children

John Newbery Medal

Given to the author of the most distinguished work of literature for children

In addition, Kyle Lukoff won the ALSC Children’s Literature Lecture Award and will deliver a lecture next spring.

Note: this list does not include all of the honor winners in several categories, as a press release of the full roster of honors has yet to be released. You can check the American Library Association website later today for more winning titles.