Here's some of the questions I get asked a lot:
How do you get on
the award committee?
-Sometimes you get nominated, and then selected by a
nominating committee to be on the ballot, and then win an election. Or you get
appointed by the head of the association to be on the committee.
-Sometimes you fill out an application and send in writing
samples.
-Sometimes you tell the chair of the committee that you’re
interested.
How do you get
eligible books to read?
-Sometimes they are sent in large boxes that arrive from publishers of all sizes on your doorstep full of hardcover, first editions of all the
books they’ve published that season.
-Sometimes they are sent in occasional envelopes from publishers and directly from self-published authors.
-Sometimes you spend countless hours in the library and
searching relevant databases and review journals desperately trying to find
eligible books.
How do you decide
on the winners?
-Sometimes everyone on the committee comes together from all
over the country, and are sequestered for several days in one room until they
emerge with the results.
-Sometimes you meet several times over the course of a year
for short meetings.
-Sometimes you use e-mail or Skype, but never actually meet
or talk to other committee members in person.
What do the authors
and illustrators think about being given your award?
-Sometimes it literally changes their lives. Sometimes it
lets them afford to be a full-time author or illustrator when they couldn’t
before. Sometimes they cry or exclaim in joy or are at a loss for words when you tell them they’ve
won.
-Sometimes they are honored and touched. They hadn’t heard
of your award before but they are delighted to be recognized and truly
appreciate it.
-Sometimes they don’t even know they’ve won until they
Google their name.
How does the
public find out about your list of winners?
-Sometimes they are announced with great fanfare at a giant
press conference in front of over a thousand people who scream and cheer while
others tune in to the big moment online from all over the country.
-Sometimes they are read at a small conference in front of
people who have never heard of any of the books on your list but applaud
politely at the end.
-Sometimes they are announced in a press release that you
send to everyone you know in the hopes that someone will notice your wonderful books.
How is the award
presented?
-Sometimes it is given at a beautiful banquet in front of people from every part of the children’s literature world, while the winner
gives a carefully crafted and lengthy speech, which is later published and studied by graduate students.
-Sometimes the winner speaks for a few minutes at an event
honoring many books and award recipients.
-Sometimes the winner gets the award in the mail.
What can you say
about the award process?
-Sometimes it’s all an enormous secret and you can’t breathe
a word of any of it. People hang on everything you say; even the tiniest
detail, and you can never, ever, ever let a real piece of information about
what actually happened escape your lips. Or else.
-Sometimes you can reveal why certain books won and why
others lost.
-Sometimes even if you could tell every single detail about the whole entire process, the award is so obscure that no one, probably not even the winning author, would be interested.
What remains the same?
-No matter the prestige of the award, book award committees are a lot of work. They involve reading and analyzing an enormous quantity of books, staying as impartial as possible, and making difficult choices.
-You have to work together with your committee and recognize that other people have different points of view. The book you love, others may hate and vice versa. It's not an individual decision but a group compromise.
-They help shine recognition on quality books for children and ideally get great books into the hands of readers.
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