The American Library Association announced the winners of its annual Youth Media Awards on Monday, with Amina Luqman-Dawson and Doug Salati among the authors and artists taking home the prizes for outstanding contributions to children’s literature.
Luqman-Dawson won the John Newbery Medal for Freewater, her middle-grade novel about two children who flee a plantation and find a home in a community with others who have escaped enslavement. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called the book “an exceptional addition to the resistance stories of enslaved people.”
Luqman-Dawson’s book also won the Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award, given to an outstanding book by an African American author.
The Randolph Caldecott Medal, given to the artist of a picture book, went to Doug Salati for Hot Dog, which he wrote and illustrated. The book tells the story of a dog who is overwhelmed by a hot day in the city, and whose owner takes them to the beach for a much-needed respite.
Artist Frank Morrison won the Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award for Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual, which was written by Carole Boston Weatherford. The Michael L. Printz Award, given to an outstanding young adult book, went to Sabaa Tahir for All My Rage, which also won the National Book Award for young people’s literature.
Jason Reynolds, the author of books including Long Way Down and Ain’t Burned All the Bright, won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults.
A full list of the winners and honorees of the ALA Youth Media Awards is available here.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
