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| ALA president Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada | |
The American Library Association announced the winners of the Youth Media Awards on Monday in New Orleans, La., yesterday. "This year," ALA president Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada said, "we will announce 21 awards that recognize the best selections in books and media for children and young adults."
Amy Koester, president of the Association of Library Service to Children (ALSC), revealed the winners of two of ALA's longest-running awards, the Randolph Caldecott Medal ("to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children") and the John Newbery Medal ("to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children"). Amina Luqman-Dawson won both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award for her debut novel, Freewater (Jimmy Patterson), and Doug Salati received the Caldecott Medal for his first solo picture book, Hot Dog (Knopf Books for Young Readers). Sabaa Tahir's National Book Award winner, All My Rage (Razorbill), won the Young Adult Library Services Association's (YALSA) Michael L. Printz Award for best book written for teens.
The Margaret A. Edwards Award, which honors an author as well as a specific body of his or her work for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature, went to outgoing National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Jason Reynolds, and James E. Ransome won the Children's Literature Legacy Award, which honors an author or illustrator whose books have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. Sacha Lamb's debut novel, When the Angels Left the Old Country (Levine Querido), received both the Stonewall Young Adult Literature Award and the Sydney Taylor Book Award, presented to outstanding books for teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience. And Victory, Stand! (Norton Young Readers) by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes and Dawud Anyabwile received two CSK honors and the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults.
An interview with Amina Luqman-Dawson follows, and Shelf Awareness will feature interviews with many of the winners in the coming days. The full list of winners, as well as the webcast, can be found here.