Book prizes and awards look good on your living room wall and help you sell your book. The following list fills you in on some of the best annual book prizes.
Newbery Medal
Sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, the Newbery Medal is awarded each year to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott Medal is awarded each year by the Library Service to Children to the illustrator of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Coretta Scott King Book Award
The Coretta Scott King Award is presented each year to honor the authors and illustrators of outstanding books about the African-American experience written for children.
Printz Award
The Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature is given each year to the best book written for teenage readers.
Belpré Medal
The Belpré Medal is awarded each year to the Latino or Latina author and illustrator whose work of children’s literature “best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience.”
Geisel Award
The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is awarded each year by the Association for Library Service to Children to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of “the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year.”
Stonewall Book Award
The Stonewall Book Award-Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award is awarded by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Round Table of the American Library Association. This award is presented each year to the author(s) of a book of “exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience.”
Sibert Medal
Each year, the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is given to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of “the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English during the preceding year.”
ALA Quick Pick
The purpose of this honor is to highlight fiction and nonfiction books “aimed at encouraging reading among teens who dislike to read for whatever reason.”
Texas Bluebonnet Award
Being nominated for a state book award — especially the Texas Bluebonnet Award — can help an author sell tens of thousands of books. And you don’t even have to win; you just have to get on the master list.