Music has the Grammys, TV has the Golden Globes, and movies have the Oscars. There is no single award for books. Books, specifically books for Children and Young Adults (YA), are a little different. On February 12, the American Library Association (ALA) will host the Youth Media Awards Ceremony in Denver, and the entire ceremony can be watched live starting at 8 a.m.
Instead of one award for many different categories, each category gets its own award. The exception to the rule is that two Pura Belpre Awards and two Coretta Scott King Awards are presented each year: one to an author, one to an illustrator. A complete list can be found on the ALA’s site; here are some popular ones:
- Illustrations: The Caldecott Award
- Children’s story: The Newbery Award
- YA: The Printz Award
- Debut YA book: The Morris Award
- Latinx Writer: The Pura Belpre Award
- Latinx Illustrator: Pura Belpre Award
- African American Writer: Coretta Scott King Award
- African American Illustrator: Coretta Scott King Award
The ALA awards are determined by dedicated committee members who spend the year reading hundreds of books and discussing them in depth in many epically long meetings. With all of the love and labor behind these selections, it’s worth reading not just the winners, but the finalists and honor books as well.