2014 Youth Media Awards

I was going to take a break today from my blog to reflect on my conference experience and decide what I wanted to share, but I couldn’t miss this HUGE event that happened this morning…. the Youth Media Awards were announced!  Now, for many of my friends, this epic event is not on their radar, let alone do they really even know what it is.  But if you are a youth services librarian, school librarian, teacher, or are just really into children’s and young adult literature, then you have waited for this day for a long time.  This is the day when they announce not only the Caldecott (best illustrations) and the Newbery (best story/text) awards, but also 16 other youth media awards.

I’m not going to list every winner, because unfortunately it’s going to take up a lot of space, but if you’re interested in seeing the winners of the 18 awards, then take a look at the press release from the conference this morning.  I will tell you the winner of the Caldecott Medal was Brian Floca for his illustrations in the book Locomotive.  And the winner of the Newbery Award was Kate DiCamillo for her story, Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures.

Locomotive, because it is an absolutely beautiful work of art.  I was actually surprised about Flora & Ulysses; I’m not saying it’s a poor choice, but it’s very accessible to children and something I think a lot of kids will like.  This is not always the case when it comes to the Newbery Award.  Sometimes, the books are written at a much higher level, higher than what children will enjoy.  And I think that’s what is so interesting about these awards – there is a committee that chooses the winner, so it really depends on the people in the committee and their opinions of the literature during the year.  It makes for great conversations before the announcement as people discuss their favorites and also makes for great discussions afterward as people reflect about the chosen books.  And I think that’s almost more important than the actual awards – it’s getting people to talk about children’s literature.