BTC Award Books
What Are Award Books?
ALA Youth Media Awards
View current and past years of the American Library Youth Media Awards on this guide.
Every year, the American Library Association forms committees to select the best books of the year in a variety of categories. The selected titles represent examples of excellence in children's and young adult literature and audio books. In addition to the gold medal award winners, each award will typically give honor awards to a few additional titles. The BTC Coordinator collects all award and honor books for the following awards:
Batchelder Award
The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is given to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.
Caldecott
The Randolph Caldecott Award is given to the American illustrator of the children's book with best illustrations published in the previous year.
Coretta Scott-King
The award is given 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 is given in three categories: illustrator, author, and new author.
Geisel Award
The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is given annually 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.
Morris Award
The William C. Morris YA Debut Award, first awarded in 2009, honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature.
Newbery
The John Newbery medal is awarded to the author of the most distinguished contribution to children's literature by an American author.
Odyssey Award
The Odyssey Award is given to the producer of the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States.
Printz Award
The Michael L. Printz Award is given to a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.
Pura Belpré Award
The Pura Belpre Award is given to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
Schneider Family Book Award
The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.
Sibert Award
The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English during the preceding year.
Stonewall Book Award
Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award is given annually to English-language works of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction
Honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a Nov. 1 – Oct. 31 publishing year.
Illinois Young Readers' Choice Awards
The Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) sponsors three Illinois Young Readers' Choice Award: The Monarch Award (grades K-3), the Bluestem Award (grades 3-5), and the Lincoln Award (teens). The Rebecca Caudill Award is the fourth Young Readers' Choice Award and is administered by the RCYRBA Steering Committee. Each year, students read books from the list and vote for their favorite. The author (and illustrator, if applicable) of the award-winning book is honored at the annual ISLMA conference.
View Nominees for the Illinois Young Readers' Choice Awards
Where are the Award Books?
Location of Award Books in Ballenger Teachers Center
Location of BTC Audio Books in the Library Building
