K-12 Book List: Literary Prizes and Awards

Awarded biennially, the AIYLA identifies and honors the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America.

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The Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs founded the Américas Award in 1993 to encourage and commend authors, illustrators and publishers who produce quality children’s and young adult books that portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinx cultures in the United States, and to provide teachers with recommendations for classroom use. CLASP offers up to two annual book awards, together with a commended list of titles.

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The goal of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature is to honor and recognize individual work about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage, based on literary and artistic merit.

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Winners are selected in three categories: Picture Book, Fiction and Poetry, and Nonfiction. Two Honor Books may be named in each category. On occasion, a book will receive a special citation for its high quality and overall creative excellence.

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This award, first awarded in 1970, is 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.

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Frequently shortened to the Newbery, this award is given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of "the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children."

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For over 30 years, the Lambda Literary Awards have recognized the best LGBTQ books published in a given year across dozens of categories.

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The Batchelder is awarded to an American publisher for 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 United States during the preceding year.

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Inau­gu­rat­ed in 1950, the Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards is the longest-run­ning North Amer­i­can awards pro­gram of its kind, and are intend­ed to rec­og­nize authors, and encour­age read­ing, of out­stand­ing Eng­lish-lan­guage books of Jew­ish interest. Awards are pre­sent­ed in over eigh­teen cat­e­gories.

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Since 1963, PEN America has honored exceptional literary work across literary genres. Today, their awards highlight achievement in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, science writing, sports writing, essays, biography, children’s literature, and drama.

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This award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented annually 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.

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Frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, this award has been given out since 1938 for the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children." It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association.

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The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S.

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