Children's Virginia Literary Award
The Children's Virginia Literary Award honors excellence in the field of children's literature with a focus on Virginia. Picture books and middle-grade works (recommended reading levels of up to age 12) of both fiction and nonfiction are eligible. Books by authors with a connection to Virginia and books set in Virginia will be considered for the award. The award period for consideration is the preceding calendar year (nominees for the 2024 award were published in calendar year 2023). Nominations have closed for the 2024 Children's Literature Award.
A partnership between the Library of Virginia and William and Mary Libraries, the Children's Virginia Literary Award includes a $2,500 monetary prize and will be presented during the Virginia Literary Awards at the Library of Virginia.
2024 Finalists
KWAME ALEXANDER | An American Story
Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, Emmy award–winning producer and #1 New York Times bestselling author of 40 books. These include “This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets,” “Why Fathers Cry at Night,” “An American Story,” “The Door of No Return” and “Becoming Muhammad Ali,” coauthored with James Patterson. He also authored “Rebound,” which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, and “The Undefeated,” which was a National Book Award nominee, a Newbery Honor Book and the winner of the Caldecott Medal. Additional honors include the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Coretta Scott King Author Honor, four NAACP Image Award nominations and the Conroy Legacy Award. Alexander is also the producer, showrunner and writer of “The Crossover” TV series, based on his Newbery Medal–winning novel of the same name, and the creator and host of the “Why Fathers Cry” podcast. Most recently he was appointed the Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts and writer-in-residence at the Chautauqua Institution.
ANDREA BEATRIZ ARANGO | Something Like Home
Andrea Beatriz Arango is the Newbery Honor–winning author of “Iveliz Explains It All.” She was born and raised in Puerto Rico and is a former public school teacher with almost a decade of teaching experience. Arango now writes the types of children’s books she wishes students had more access to. She balances her life in Virginia with trips home to see her family, where she eats lots of tostones de pana. When she’s not busy writing, you can find her enjoying nature in the nearest forest or body of water.
VASHTI HARRISON | Big
Vashti Harrison is the New York Times bestselling creator of “Big,” which received the Caldecott Medal, a Coretta Scott King Book Award Author Honor and a Coretta Scott King Book Award Illustrator Honor, in addition to being a National Book Award finalist. Harrison is also the #1 New York Times bestselling creator of “Little Leaders,” “Little Dreamers” and “Little Legends,” and the illustrator of Lupita Nyong’o’s “Sulwe” (for which she received a Coretta Scott King Book Award Illustrator Honor), Matthew A. Cherry’s “Hair Love,” Andrea Beaty's “I Love You Like Yellow” and Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic’s “Hello, Star,” among others. A two-time recipient of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Children, Harrison lives in Brooklyn.
