The Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators announced winners of the 2017 Crystal Kite Awards, a peer-voted honor bestowed for excellence in children's books in 15 U.S. and international regions.
"The SCBWI is happy to recognize these fifteen outstanding books, selected by our community of authors and artists, and congratulate their talented creators," said executive director Lin Oliver. "The Crystal Kite awards provide an opportunity for both bestsellers and hidden gems to be acknowledged, and brought forward to find their way into the hands of appreciative readers."
This year's Crystal Kite regional division winners are:
Atlantic: I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy
Australia/N.Z.: Smile Cry by Tania McCartney & Jess Racklyeft
California/Hawaii: Antsy Ansel: Ansel Adams, a Life in Nature by Cynthia Jenson-Elliott & Christy Hale
Canada: Dot to Dot in the Sky, Stories of the Aurora by Joan Marie Galat
Internationals Other: El jardín mágico by Carme Lemniscates
Mid South: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Middle East/India/Asia: Somewhere Among by Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu
Midwest: The Quickest Kid in Clarksville by Pat Zietlow Miller (& Frank Morrison)
New England: Fearless Flyer: Ruth Law and Her Flying Machine by Heather Lang (& Raul Colon)
New York: Saving Kate's Flowers by Cindy Sommer (& Laurie Allen Klein)
Southeast: Wish by Barbara O'Connor
Southwest: Space Boy and the Space Pirate by Dian Curtis Regan
Texas/Oklahoma: Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thoms by Gwendolyn Hooks
U.K./Ireland: More of Me by Kathryn Evans
West: The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox
---
Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Baby won this year's Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, given to a book that best "captures the comic spirit" of the legendary author, the Guardian reported. The winner receives a jeroboam of Bollinger Special Cuvée, a case of Bollinger La Grande Année, a complete set of the Everyman Wodehouse collection and a locally-bred Gloucestershire Old Spot pig named after the winning novel.
"It was the pretty clear winner," said judge and publisher David Campbell, adding that Bridget Jones's Baby was "probably her funniest book" and "laugh-out-loud funny."
Fielding, who said she intended to boast about winning the prize "as long as possible to anyone who will listen," will be presented with her award at the Hay festival later this month.