Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award

Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award
Awarded for	"literary excellence, widespread appeal, and positive approach to life in young-adult literature"
Country	United States
Presented by	The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN)
First award	2009
Website	https://www.alan-ya.org/awards/walden-award/

The Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, presented by The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English (ALAN), is an annual award in the United States for a book that exemplifies literary excellence, widespread appeal, and a positive approach to life in young adult literature. It is named after Amelia Elizabeth Walden who died in Westport, Connecticut in 2002 and was a pioneer in the field of Young Adult Literature. The national award is presented annually to the author of a title selected by ALAN's Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee. ^[1]

History

The Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award was established in 2008 to honor the wishes of Amelia Elizabeth Walden. It allows for the sum of $5,000 to be awarded annually to the winning title, and was first awarded on Monday, November 23, 2009. ^[2] The award highlights works written for a young adult audience that demonstrate a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit. ^[1]

Amelia Elizabeth Walden was born in New York City on January 15, 1909. She graduated from Columbia University in 1934 and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. From 1935 to 1945, she taught English and Dramatics at Norwalk High School (Connecticut). She married John William Harmon in 1946. Her first novel, Gateway, was published in 1946. Walden told her editor that she intended the novel for young people who lived at "the gateway", on that middle ground between adolescence and adulthood. Walden claimed, “I respond to young people because I remember my own adolescence so vividly – and fondly. It was a period of total involvement, of enjoying life to the hilt.” Walden wrote over 40 young adult novels. She died in 2002 in Westport, Connecticut. A collection of some of her literary manuscripts and correspondence with McGraw-Hill between 1954 and 1977 relating to book production is available for review in the Special Collections and University Archives of the University of Oregon Libraries. ^[1]

Criteria

The selection committee composed of ten The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) members (3 teachers, 3 university professors, 3 librarians, and 1 chair) appointed by the previous year's chair and current ALAN President for a one-year term with the possibility of re-election for a second term. ^[1] They award one winning title and honor up to four additional titles on their shortlist.

• Per Walden’s request

The selected title 'MUST: ^[1]

1. be a work of fiction, ideally a novel (stand-alone or part of a series);
2. be published within one year prior to the call for titles;
3. be published in the United States but may have been published elsewhere prior; and
4. possess a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit (please see below for additional guidance).

• A Positive Approach to Life ^[1]

Submitted titles should:

• • treat teen readers as capable and thoughtful young people
  • offer hope and optimism, even when describing difficult circumstances
  • have a credible and appropriate resolution
  • portray characters involved in shaping their lives in a positive way, even as they struggle with the harsh realities of life
• Widespread Teen Appeal ^[1]

Submitted titles should:

• • be intended expressly for readers aged 12–18
  • have universal themes that transcend time and place
  • have themes that resonate with a wide variety of readers, regardless of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation
  • provide readers with a window to the world and/or reflect their own experiences
• Literary Merit ^[1]

Submitted titles should:

• • contain well-developed characters
  • employ well-constructed forms suitable to function
  • include language and literary devices that enhance the narrative
  • suggest cogent and richly-realized themes
  • present an authentic voice

Recipients

Walden Award Winner and Finalists ^[3]

Year	Author	Book	Result	Ref.
2009	Steve Kluger	My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins & Fenway Park	Winner	[2]
	Jacqueline Woodson	After Tupac and D Foster	Finalist
	Kristin Cashore	Graceling	Finalist
	Neil Gaiman	The Graveyard Book	Finalist
	Jenny Valentine	Me, the Missing, and the Dead (originally Finding Violet Park, UK, 2007)	Finalist
2010	Kristin Cashore	Fire	Winner	[4] [5]
	Francisco X. Stork	Marcelo in the Real World	Finalist
	Rick Yancey	The Monstrumologist	Finalist
	Justina Chen Headley	North of Beautiful	Finalist
	Jill S. Alexander	The Sweetheart of Prosper County	Finalist
2011	Francisco X. Stork	The Last Summer of the Death Warriors	Winner	[6] [7]
	Jordan Sonnenblick	After Ever After	Finalist
	Matt de la Peña	I Will Save You	Finalist
	Matthew Quick	Sorta Like a Rockstar	Finalist
	Kristen Chandler	Wolves, Boys, & Other Things That Might Kill Me	Finalist
2012	Lauren Myracle	Shine	Winner	[8]
	Robert Sharenow	Berlin Boxing Club	Finalist
	Moira Young	Blood Red Road	Finalist
	Ruta Sepetys	Between Shades of Gray	Finalist
	Guadalupe Garcia McCall	Under the Mesquite	Finalist
2013	John Green	The Fault in Our Stars	Winner	[8]
	Benjamin Alire Sáenz	Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe	Finalist
	A. S. King	Ask the Passengers	Finalist
	Eliot Schrefer	Endangered	Finalist
2014	Rainbow Rowell	Eleanor & Park	Winner	[9]
	Patrick Flores-Scott	Jumped In	Finalist
	Sylvia Whitman	The Milk of Birds	Finalist
	Bill Konigsberg	Openly Straight	Finalist
	Andrew Smith	Winger	Finalist
2015	A.S. King	Glory O'Brien's History of the Future	Winner	[10]
	Michael Williams	Diamond Boy	Finalist
	Isabel Quintero	Gabi, A Girl in Pieces	Finalist
	Laurie Halse Anderson	The Impossible Knife of Memory	Finalist
	Deborah Wiles	Revolution (The Sixties Trilogy)	Finalist
2016	Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely	All American Boys	Winner	[8]
	Jennifer Niven	All the Bright Places	Finalist
	Neal Shusterman	Challenger Deep	Finalist
	Ashley Hope Pérez	Out of Darkness	Finalist
	Ryan Graudin	Wolf by Wolf	Finalist
2017	Jeff Zentner	The Serpent King	Winner	[11]
	Kathleen Glasgow	Girl in Pieces	Finalist
	Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock	The Smell of Other People's Houses	Finalist
	Ruta Sepetys	Salt to the Sea	Finalist
	Nicola Yoon	The Sun Is Also a Star	Finalist
2018	Angie Thomas	The Hate U Give	Winner	[12]
	Nic Stone	Dear Martin	Finalist
	Jason Reynolds	Long Way Down	Finalist
	Amy Reed	The Nowhere Girls	Finalist
	Melanie Crowder	An Uninterrupted View of the Sky	Finalist
2019	Elizabeth Acevedo	The Poet X	Winner	[13]
	Shaun David Hutchinson	The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza	Finalist
	Adib Khorram	Darius the Great Is Not Okay	Finalist
	Joy McCullough	Blood, Water, Paint	Finalist
	Emily X.R. Pan	The Astonishing Color of After	Finalist
2020	Julie Berry	Lovely War	Winner	[14]
	Elizabeth Acevedo	With the Fire on High	Finalist
	Abdi Nazemian	Like a Love Story	Finalist
	Randy Ribay	Patron Saints of Nothing	Finalist
	Kip Wilson	White Rose	Finalist
2021	Elizabeth Acevedo	Clap When You Land	Winner	[15]
	Brittney Morris	Slay	Finalist
	Christina Hammonds Reed	The Black Kids	Finalist
	Deborah Wiles	Kent State	Finalist
2022	Jeff Zentner	In the Wild Light	Winner	[16]
	Yamile Saied Méndez	Furia	Finalist
	Raquel Vásquez Gilliland	How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe	Finalist
	Trung Le Nguyen	The Magic Fish	Finalist
	Traci Chee	We Are Not Free	Finalist
2023	Sabaa Tahir	All My Rage	Winner	[17]
	Maya MacGregor	The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester	Finalist
	Jessie Burton	Medusa	Finalist
	Kyrie McCauley	We Can Be Heroes	Finalist
2024	Ari Tison	Saints of the Household	Winner	[18]
	Kim Johnson	Invisible Son	Finalist
	Laekan Zea Kemp	An Appetite for Miracles	Finalist
	Maria Ingrande Mora	The Immeasurable Depth of You	Finalist
	Ream Shukairy	The Next New Syrian Girl	Finalist
2025	Josh Galarza	The Great Cool Ranch Dorito In The Sky	Winner	[19]
	Byron Graves	Rez Ball	Finalist
	Jennifer Yu	Grief in the Fourth Dimension	Finalist
	Seema Yasmin	Unbecoming	Finalist
	Bessie Flores Zaldivar	Libtard	Finalist

See also

• Children's literature portal

• Printz Award – American Library Association medal recognizing the year's best book for teens
• Newbery Medal – American literature for children (children or young adults prior to 2000)
• Carnegie Medal – British literature for children or young adults
• Guardian Prize – fiction for children or young adults by British and Commonwealth writers

References

1. "Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award". ALAN. Archived 2011-08-20. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
2. "Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Winner Announced". ALAN. 2011-09-30. Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
3. "The Walden Award". ALAN. 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
4. "2010 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Winner & Finalists Announced". ALAN. 2010-08-18. Archived from the original on 2010-08-18. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
5. "Kristin Cashore: Graceling's 10th Anniversary". Shelf Awareness . Retrieved 2023-01-23.
6. "2011 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Finalists". ALAN Online. 2011-06-20. Archived from the original on 2011-08-27. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
7. "Francisco X. Stork: On Creating Courage, Empathy and Hope". Shelf Awareness . June 14, 2021. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
8. "The Walden Award". ALAN. 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2024-10-28.
9. "Special Announcement: 2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Winner – Unleashing Readers" . Retrieved 2023-01-23.
10. "Awards: Amelia Elizabeth Walden YA Book Finalists". Shelf Awareness . July 28, 2015. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
11. "ALAN Online News May 2017" (PDF). ALAN Online News. May 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
12. "2018 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Winner & Finalists Announced". Teachers Who Read. 2018-08-01. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
13. "2019 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Winner & Finalists Announced". Assembly on Literature for Adolescents. 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
14. "2020 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Winner Announced" (PDF). Assembly on Literature for Adolescents. 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
15. "2021 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Winner Announced" (PDF). Assembly on Literature for Adolescents. 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
16. "2022 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Finalists Announced". Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE. 2022-05-04. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
17. NCTE, Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of (2023-06-14). "2023 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Finalists Announced". ALAN. Retrieved 2024-10-28.
18. NCTE, Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of (2024-06-10). "2024 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Winner & Finalists Announced". ALAN. Retrieved 2024-10-28.
19. NCTE, Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of (2024-06-10). "2024 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Winner Announced". ALAN. Retrieved 2024-10-28.

External links

• ALAN Online – Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE
• Walden Award at ALAN