Award Winners

Awarded biannually since 2006, the AIYLA identifies and honors the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America. Awards are given for the Best Picture Book, Best Middle Grade Book, and Best Young Adult Book.  This carousel contains winners and honor books available in the Children’s Room, for additional winners and titles for Teens, see the American Indian Youth Literature Award website.

This award honors individual works about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage. The award is given annually since 2005 and include awards for Youth Literature, Children’s Literature, and Picture books. This carousel contains the winners and honor books for Children’s Literature and Picture Books since 2019, for the Teen titles and earlier winners see the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature website.

Established in 1966, the Batchelder Award recognizes the US publisher of a children’s book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originating in a country other than the United States and in a language other than English and subsequently translated into English for publication in the US during the preceding year. This carousel contains winners and honor books since 2020 available in the Children’s Room, for more winners see the Batchelder Award website.

The Randolph Caldecott Medal is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for Children since 1937. This carousel features winners and honor books since 2020 available in the Children’s Room. For a full list of winners, please see the Caldecott Medal award website.

The Charlotte Zolotow Award is given annually for outstanding writing in a picture book published in the United States in the preceding year. Up to five honor books and up to ten highly commended titles may also be named each year. Established in 1998 by the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC), the award is named to honor the work of Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children's book editor and author of more than 70 picture books. This carousel contains the winner and honor titles for the current year and the preceding year, for the distinguished titles and previous year’s selections see the Charlotte Zolotow Award for Outstanding Writing in Picture Books website.

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.  Awards are given for Author, Illustrator, the John Steptoe Award for New Talent and the Viriginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.  This carousel contains the author and illustrator winner and honor books since 2020 that can be found in the Children’s Room.  For titles for teens or earlier winners, see the Coretta Scott King Awards website.

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is given annually since 2006 to the authors and illustrators of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the previous year. This carousel contains winners and honor books since 2020, for additional titles see the Geisel Award website.

First presented in 1967 and customarily announced in June, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards recognize books in three categories: picture books, fiction and poetry, and nonfiction. This carousel contains winner and honor recipients since 2020 available in the Children’s Room. For additional winners, see the Boston Globe – Horn Book Awards website.

Founded in 1975, the Massachusetts Children’s Choice Book Award honors books that promote reading for pleasure among children in grades four through six. Students in participating schools are given a master list of book titles and are eligible to vote for their favorites if they have read at least five of the titles from the master list.

Are you participating in your school's MCBA book club?  Or just looking for a good book for your 4th - 6th grader?  Here are the 2023 - 2024 MCBA nominees!  The winner will be announced early in May.

The National Book Award is a juried book award that honors a book published by a U.S. publisher written by an author who is a U.S. citizen, living in the U.S.  Longlist titles are announced in September, Finalists in October, and the winner in November. This carousel contains titles for the current year found in the Children’s Room, for additional titles for Teens as well as past titles (back to 1996) see the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature website.

The John Newbery Medal is awarded yearly for the most outstanding contribution to American children’s literature since 1921.  This carousel features winners and honor books since 2020 available in the Children’s Room. As this award recognizes works for youth up to age 14, addition winners and honor books may be available in our Between collection. For a full list of Newbery winners and honor books, check the Newbery Medal award website.

The Pura Belpré Awards honor Latinx writers and illustrators whose children’s and teen books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience.  The award is given annually in three categories: Youth Illustration, Children’s Author Award, and Young Adult Author Award.  This carousel contains the winners and honor titles since 2021 found in the Children’s Room.  For earlier winners, see the Pura Belpré Award for Authors and Pura Belpré Award for Illustrators websites.

The Schneider Family Book Award is given annually to the author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for children and teen audiences. The award is given in three categories: young children (ages 0 – 8); middle grades (ages 9 – 13) and teens (ages 14 -19). This carousel contains winners and honor books for the young children and middle grade awards since 2020. For additional winners and books for teens seen the Schneider Family Book Award website.

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded annually to the authors and illustrators of the most distinguished informational book for children published in the United States in English.  This carousel contains winners and honor titles in the Children’s Room since 2020, for previous winners and honor books see the Sibert Medal award website.

Awarded since 2010, the Stonewall Book Awards for Children’s & Young People’s Literature recognize books for exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience. This carousel contains all Stonewall winners and honor books available in the Children’s Room, for titles for teens see the Stonewall Book Award website.

Presented since 1968 to outstanding books that authentically portray the Jewish experience in three categories: Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult. This carousel contains award winners and honor books for Picture Books and Middle Grade winners since 2020, for notable title recipients and Young Adults winners see the Sydney Taylor Book Award website.

The Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature, also known as “The Walter,” recognizes diverse authors whose works feature diverse main characters and address diversity in a meaningful way. The award celebrates the legacy of author Walter Dean Myers (1937-2014) and has been awarded yearly since 2016. This carousel contains all Walter Award winners and honor books available in the Children’s Room, for titles for Teens please see the Walter Award website.