At the Youth Media Awards, announced yesterday in Baltimore, Md., American Library Association President Emily Drabinski opened the proceedings with a good morning to "people who love books as much as I do."
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| Emily Drabinski at the Youth Media Awards. | |
Jonda C. McNair, president of the Association of Library Services 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"). Vashti Harrison became the first Black woman to receive the Caldecott Medal, for her picture book Big (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), which was also a finalist for the National Book Award and received both a Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Honor. Dave Eggers's The Eyes and the Impossible (Knopf Books for Young Readers and McSweeney's Publishing), illustrated by Shawn Harris, received the 2024 Newbery Medal; and young adult anthology The Collectors: Stories (Dutton Books for Young Readers), edited by A.S. King, was named the Michael L. Printz Award winner.
The Margaret A. Edwards Award, which honors an author as well as a specific body of their work for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature, went to Neal Shusterman. Pam Muñoz Ryan 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. All the winners can be found here.
Our interview with Vashti Harrison is below, and interviews with winners of the Newbery, Printz, and other awards will appear here throughout the week. --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness