The Newbery Award and More by Alexandra K - Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012 at 11:26am

Some very prestigious kids and teen awards were announced this weekend.

The John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature went to Jack Gantos' Dead End in Norvelt.

The Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children went to A Ball for Daisy, illustrated and written by Chris Raschka.

Finally, the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults went to Where Things Come Back, written by John Corey Whaley.

Amongst the Printz Honor books are Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, which was featured in our most recent newsletter, and The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, which our Be First Club absolutely loved.

For a full listing of more ALA award winners and honor books, see the ALA press release.

Congratulations to all the authors involved!

Categories: Awards, buzz, Publishing News

Two Manitobans Medal at Independent Publishers Moonbeam Awards by Chadwick Ginther - Monday, Oct 17, 2011 at 4:15pm

On November 12th, two Manitobans will be honoured at the 5th annual Independent Publishers Moonbeam Awards, held in conjunction with the 2nd annual Traverse City Children's Book Festival. The awards are "intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary children's books and their creators, and to celebrate children's books and life-long reading."

It's been an amazing run for Brandon author Craig Russell's debut novel, Black Bottle Man. The book, previously shortlisted for On the Same Page through the Winnipeg Public Library, as well as the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book by a Manitoba Author and the McNally Robinson Book of the Year for Young People Award (Older Category) at the Manitoba Publishing Awards, won the Gold Medal in Moonbeam's Young Adult Fiction (Fantasy/Sci-Fi) category. Black Bottle Man is also currently in the running for the Prix Aurora Award for Best Long Form Work in English.

Winnipeg's Rae Bridgman tied for a Bronze Medal in the Pre-Teen Fiction-Fantasy category for her book Kingdom of Trolls.

A complete list of prize winners may be found here:

Categories: Awards, SciFi & Fantasy, Winnipeg

Children's Award Announcements by Alexandra K - Thursday, Oct 13, 2011 at 6:01pm

'Tis the season for awards announcements in the book world! Here is a solid roundup of shortlists and winners thus far.

First of all, the shortlists have been announced for the Governor General's Literary Awards, as well as for the National Book Awards 2011. Congrats to McNally favourites Deborah Ellis and Kenneth Oppel, shortlisted for the GGs for No Ordinary Day and This Dark Endeavor respectively. As for the National Book Awards shortlist, I have to say that I am really excited for Franny Billingsley's Chime - I quite enjoyed it.

Some award winners:

• Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-fiction ($10,000): Case Closed: Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science, written by Susan Hughes of Toronto and illustrated by Michael Wandelmaier of Toronto.
• Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction ($5,000): The Glory Wind by Valerie Sherrard of Miramichi, N.B.
• John Spray Mystery Award ($5,000): A Spy in the House, written by Y.S. Lee of Kingston, Ont.

Finally, congratulations to Erin Bow, who won the $25,000 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award for her fantastic debut novel, Plain Kate.

Categories: Awards, buzz

Winnipeg Author Duncan Thornton wins $15,000 Award by Alexandra Kroeger - Friday, Jul 08, 2011 at 9:49am

Local children's author Duncan Thornton is one of seven lucky recipients of the 2011 Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Awards from the Canada Council for the Arts. These awards, worth $15,000 each, recognize outstanding artistic achievement by mid-career artists in Dance, Inter-Arts, Media Arts, Music, Theater, Visual Arts and Writing and Publishing.

We have carried Thornton's novels since his debut, Kalifax, was published in 1999, and we are terribly excited for him. Congratulations!

Categories: Awards