Awards

2025 CCBC Choices – Book List: Fiction for Children

CCBC Choices is the annual best-of-the-year list of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CCBC Choices titles are included in the searchable CCBC-Recommended Books Database. Throughout the next few weeks, CCBC is highlighting titles in CCBC Choices 2025 on Instagram @ccbcuwmadison. Learn more here and view the full 2025 list here.

2024 MI MISelf in Books List – Selections: Upper Elementary AND Middle School

MISelf in Books is an annual list of inclusive books for Michigan learners. The list was created by a committee of certified school librarians who are members of the Michigan Association of School Librarians (formerly Michigan Association for Media in Education). These recommendations are based on books that they see learners reading and enjoying in their libraries. The books have been published in the last two years and are selected with a focus on authenticity. The list includes books for grade levels PreK-12. Learn more here and view the 2024 list here.

Great Lakes Great Books Award List for Grades 6-8 

The Great Lakes Great Books Award is voted on by children from a pool of nominees selected by the award committee. The group of Michigan teachers and librarians read broadly across books published in the current year and one year previous for school-aged children to select eight nominees per age group. Outside nominations from the public and publishers are also considered. These nominees are then voted on by children and young adults in their corresponding age group to select a winner. Winners of the current year and nominees for the next year are announced at the Michigan Reading Association’s Annual Conference. Learn more here.

South Dakota Prairie Pasque Award 2025-2026 List for grades 4-5

Prairie Pasque winners are determined by South Dakota fourth and fifth grade students. Students are encouraged to read and give a star rating for any book they read from the masterlists of titles. The books receiving the most highest number of stars from the students win the awards. A committee of educators and librarians select the books nominated for the awards. Learn more here.

2025 Bank Street Children’s Book Committee Best Books of the Year

Ages 12-14, with outstanding merit. the Children’s Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education’s annual Best Books of the Year list recognizes books published the previous year for their literary quality and excellence of presentation as well as the potential emotional impact of the books on young readers. Other criteria include credibility of characterization and plot, authenticity of time and place, age suitability, positive treatment of ethnic and religious differences, and the absence of stereotypes. Each book accepted for the list is read and reviewed by at least two committee members and then discussed by the committee as a whole. Learn more here and view the full list here. 

2025-2026 PA Keystone to Reading Secondary Book Award Reading List for Grades 6-8

The annual Pennsylvania Keystone to Reading Book Award program is a student choice award with two divisions: Elementary and Secondary. The elementary division considers books from preschool through Grade 6, within three subdivisions–preschool, primary, and intermediate. The secondary division is for students in middle and high school. To be eligible for the award, titles must have been published within the last year. Learn more and view the full lists here.

2027 Evergreen Teen Book Award MS Nominee

The Evergreen Award was created in 1990 to help promote the love of reading among Washington teens. Each year the Evergreen Committee selects ten nominees for each of the lists that have been narrowed from a wider list of titles that they believe are or can be popular with teens, deserve to be promoted and celebrated, and which represent diversity in genre, character representation, and audience appeal. Learn more here.