Awards

The Josette Frank Award

This award for fiction honors a book or books of outstanding literary merit in which children or young people deal in a positive and realistic way with difficulties in their world and grow emotionally and morally. The award has been given annually since 1943. Josette Frank, the editor of anthologies for children, served for many years as the Executive Director of the Child Study Association of America of which this committee was a part.

The Flora Stieglitz Straus Award

Established in 1994 to honor Flora Straus, who led the Children’s Book Committee for many years, this award is presented annually for a distinguished work of nonfiction that serves as an inspiration to young people. Flora Straus stood for the values of courage, hard work, truth, and beauty while adapting to a changing world. She believed that books about varying cultures enrich and help all children in their growth. She championed diverse opinions and points of view and was a person of high principles, unfailing courtesy, and deep understanding.

The Claudia Lewis Award

The Claudia Lewis Award, given for the first time in 1998, honors the best poetry book of the year. The award commemorates the late Claudia Lewis, distinguished children’s book expert and longtime member of the Bank Street College faculty and Children’s Book Committee. She conveyed her love and understanding of poetry with humor and grace.

The Margaret Wise Brown Board Book Award 

Margaret Wise Brown attended Bank Street’s Cooperative School for Teachers in the 1930s. She studied under Bank Street founder, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, learning new theories on childhood education which emphasized direct experiences for children. As part of her Bank Street curriculum Margaret took a course in writing for preschool students. Her skills were further developed as a member of the Bank Street Writers Lab.

Margaret’s most memorable book, Goodnight Moon, published in 1947, is considered a classic gift for new parents. Although board books had not yet been developed when Goodnight Moon was first written, the book, with its beautiful rhythmic language, is a key text in nurturing an infant’s connection to books and subsequently creating a life-long reader.

Children’s literature historian, author, and critic Leonard S. Marcus, author of Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon, noted, “She virtually invented the picture book for very young children.” With this award, the committee honors Margaret’s brilliant contributions to the canon of children’s literature which include Goodnight Moon  and The Runaway Bunny  as well as over 100 other books.

This new prize will be awarded for the first time  at the Children’s Book Committee’s annual award ceremony in April 2023 for books published or adapted to board book form in 2021 and 2022.  The prize will be given every two years.