2022 ALA Awards
The American Library Association (ALA) announced the results of the Youth Media Awards during their LibLearnX conference, held online January 21-24, 2022, including some works of genre interest.
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera (Levine Querido) is the 2022 John Newbery Medal winner “for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature,” and also won the won the Pura Belpre children’s author award. A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido) was one of four Newbery Honor books.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (Dutton Books for Young Readers) won a Stonewall Book Award – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award, “given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.” In addition, it won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, which “promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit,” in the Youth Literature category. It was also one of four Michael L. Printz honor books, selected “for excellence in literature written for young adults.”
The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer (Katherine Tegen) is a Stonewall honor book.
Words in My Hands by Asphyxia (Annick Press) won a Schneider Family Book Award “for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience.”
Several books of genre interest won Alex Awards, given to “the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences”:
- Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (Tor)
- The Witch’s Heart, Genevieve Gornichec (Ace)
- The Library of the Dead, T.L Huchu (Tor)
- Winter’s Orbit, Everina Maxwell (Tor)
- Lore Olympus, Volume One, Rachel Smythe (Del Rey)
- Malice, Heather Walter (Del Rey)
A.S. King won the Margaret A. Edwards Award “for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults.”
Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba, illustrated by Miho Satake, and translated by Avery Fischer Udagawathe (Yonder) is the winner of the Mildred L. Batchelder Award “for an outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States.”
Vampires, Hearts & Other Dead Things by Margie Fuston (McElderry) is one of four honor books for the William C. Morris Award for debut YA books.
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido) and Hunting by Stars by Cherie Dimaline (Amulet) were among the five books on the honor list for the 2022 American Indian Youth Literature Awards in the Young Adult category.
Jane Yolen won the Sydney Taylor Body-of-Work Award, which “recognizes an author or entity who has made a substantial contribution over time to the genre of Jewish children’s literature.”
For a full list of winners and honor books, see the ALA press release.
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