Phoenix Award

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The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the book's rise from relative obscurity. [1]

Contents

The award was established and is conferred by the Children's Literature Association (ChLA), a nonprofit organization based in the United States whose mission is to advance "the serious study of children's literature". The winner is selected by an elected committee of five ChLA members, from nominations by members and outsiders. The token is a brass statue. [1]

The inaugural, 1985 Phoenix Award recognized The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff (Oxford, 1965). Beginning 1989, as many as two runners-up have been designated "Honor Books", with 34 named for the 29 years to 2017. [lower-alpha 1]

A parallel award for children's picture books, the Phoenix Picture Book Award was approved in 2010 and inaugurated in 2013. There are two awards if the writer and illustrator are different people. "Books are considered not only for the quality of their illustrations, but for the way pictures and text work together to tell a story (whether fact or fiction). Wordless books are judged on the ability of the pictures alone to convey a story." [2]

Phoenix Award winners

There have been 35 Award winners and 35 Honor Books announced since 1985 (1965 to 1998 publications). [1] [3] [4] [5]

Phoenix Award 1985 to present [lower-alpha 1]
YearAuthorTitleResultRef.
1985 Rosemary Sutcliff The Mark of the Horse Lord Winner
1986 Robert J. Burch Queenie PeavyWinner
1987 Leon Garfield SmithWinner
1988 Erik Christian Haugaard The Rider and his HorseWinner
1989 [lower-alpha 2] Helen Cresswell The Night WatchmenWinner
Milton Meltzer Brother Can You Spare a Dime?Honor
Adrienne Richard PistolHonor
1990 Sylvia Engdahl Enchantress from the Stars Winner
William Mayne RavensgillHonor
Scott O'Dell Sing Down the Moon Honor
1991 Jane Gardam A Long Way from VeronaWinner
Ursula K. Le Guin The Tombs of Atuan Honor
William Mayne A Game of DarkHonor
1992 Mollie Hunter A Sound of ChariotsWinner
1993 Nina Bawden Carrie's War Winner
E.L. Konigsburg A Proud Taste for Scarlet and MiniverHonor
1994 Katherine Paterson Of Nightingales That Weep Winner
James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier My Brother Sam is Dead Honor
Sharon Bell Mathis Listen for the Fig TreeHonor
1995 Laurence Yep Dragonwings Winner
Natalie Babbitt Tuck Everlasting Honor
1996 Alan Garner The Stone Book Winner
William Steig Abel's Island Honor
1997 Robert Cormier I Am the Cheese Winner
1998 Jill Paton Walsh A Chance ChildWinner
Robin McKinley Beauty Honor
Doris Orgel The Devil in ViennaHonor
1999 E.L. Konigsburg Throwing ShadowsWinner
Rosa Guy The DisappearanceHonor
Ouida Sebestyen Words by HeartHonor
2000 [lower-alpha 3] Monica Hughes Keeper of the Isis Light Winner
Jane Langton The FledglingHonor
2001 [lower-alpha 3] Peter Dickinson The Seventh RavenWinner
Kathryn Lasky The Night Journey Honor
2002 [lower-alpha 3] Zibby Oneal A Formal FeelingWinner
Clayton Bess Story for a Black Night Honor
2003 Ivan Southall The Long Night WatchWinner
Cynthia Voigt A Solitary Blue Honor
2004 [lower-alpha 3] Berlie Doherty White Peak FarmWinner
Brian Doyle Angel Square Honor
2005 Margaret Mahy The Catalogue of the Universe Winner
Diana Wynne Jones Fire and Hemlock Honor
2006 Diana Wynne Jones Howl's Moving Castle Winner
Margaret Mahy The Tricksters Honor
Philip Pullman The Shadow in the Plate Honor
2007 Margaret Mahy MemoryWinner
Sheila Gordon Waiting for the Rain Honor
2008 Peter Dickinson Eva Winner
Jane Yolen The Devil's Arithmetic Honor
2009 Francesca Lia Block Weetzie Bat Winner
Sylvia Cassedy Lucie Babbidge’s HouseHonor
2010 Rosemary Sutcliff The Shining CompanyWinner
2011 [lower-alpha 3] Virginia Euwer Wolff The Mozart SeasonWinner
Mary Downing Hahn Stepping on the CracksHonor
Eloise McGraw The Striped ShipsHonor
2012 [lower-alpha 3] Karen Hesse Letters from Rifka Winner [4]
Michael Dorris Morning GirlHonor [4]
Frances Temple Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti Honor [4]
2013 Gaye Hiçyilmaz The Frozen WaterfallWinner [5] [7]
Walter Dean Myers Malcolm X: By Any Means NecessaryHonor [5] [7]
2014 Gary Soto Jesse Winner [8]
Graham Salisbury Under the Blood Red Sun Honor [8]
2015 Kyoko Mori One BirdWinner [1]
2016 Andrew Clements Frindle Winner
2017 James Heneghan Wish Me LuckWinner
Paul Fleischman Seedfolks Honor
Naomi Shihab Nye Habibi Honor
2018 Elizabeth Partridge Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea LangeWinner
2019 Louise Erdrich The Birchbark House Winner
Connie Porter Imani All MineHonor
2020 Carolyn Coman Many StonesWinner
Walter Dean Myers 145th Street: Short StoriesHonor
2021 Alyssa Brugman Finding GraceWinner
Chris Crutcher Whale Talk Honor
Tony JohnstonAny Small GoodnessHonor
2022 Julie Otsuka When the Emperor Was DivineWinner
Linda Sue Park When My Name Was KekoHonor
2023 Tim Tingle Walking the Choctaw RoadWinner
Richard MaurerThe Wright Sister: Katharine Wright and Her Famous BrothersHonor

Multiple awards

As of 2021, there have been three two-time winners of the Phoenix Award: [3]

Mahy of New Zealand was also a runner up in 2006.

Several of the winners have also received the British Carnegie Medal for other books: Sutcliff (1959); Garner (1967); Garfield (1970); Southall (1971); Hunter (1974); Dickinson (1979, 1980); Mahy (1982, 1984); Doherty (1986, 1991).

Three of the winners have also won the American Newbery Medal for other books: Konigsburg (1968 and 1997); Paterson (1978, 1981); Hesse (1998).

Picture Book Award winners

The Phoenix Picture Book Award was first given in 2013, for books originally published in 1993.

Phoenix Picture Book Award, 2013 to present [2]
YearAuthorTitleResult Ref.
2013 Kevin Henkes OwenWinner [7]
Denise Fleming In the Small, Small Pond Honor [7]
2014 Raymond Briggs The BearWinner [8]
Anne Isaacs , illus. by Paul O. Zelinsky Swamp AngelHonor [8]
Peggy Rathmann Good Night, Gorilla Honor [8]
2015 Sara Fanelli My Map BookWinner
Kady MacDonald Denton Would They Love a Lion?Honor
Charlotte Zolotow , illus. by Stefano Vitale When the Wind Stops (revised and newly illustrated, 1995) [lower-alpha 4] Honor
2016 Molly Bang GooseWinner
Julius Lester , illus. by Jerry Pinkney Sam and the Tigers Honor
2017 Mary McKenna Siddals , illus. by Petra Mathers Tell Me a SeasonWinner
Demi One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical TaleHonor
2018 Robert D. San Souci and Brian Pinkney Cendrillon: A Caribbean CinderellaWinner
Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman , illus. by Robin Preiss Glasser You Can’t Take A Balloon Into the Metropolitan MuseumHonor
2019 Christopher Myers Black CatWinner
Amy Littlesuger , illus. by Floyd Cooper Tree of HopeHonor
2020 Shaun Tan The Lost Thing Winner
Christopher Myers WingsHonor
2021 Grace Lin Dim Sum for Everyone!Winner
Francisco X. Alarcón , illus. by Maya Christina Gonzalez Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems/Iguanas en la nieve y otros poemas de invieroHonor
Shaun Tan The Red Tree Honor


2022 Allen Say Home of the BraveWinner
Lauren Child , illus. by Maya Christina Gonzalez Who’s Afraid of The Big Bad Book?Honor
Mordicai Gerstein What Charlie HeardHonor
Julius Lester , illus. by Joe Cepeda Why Heaven is Far AwayHonor
2023 Marla Frazee Roller CoasterWinner
Yuyi Morales Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting BookHonor
Jerdine Nolen , illus. by Kadir Nelson Thunder RoseHonor

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 See multiple sources for identification of all winners and honor books 1985 to 2018 (as of June 2017): winners and honor books tables 1985 to 2009 [lower-alpha 5] brochure 1985 to 2012 [lower-alpha 6] top page archived 2012 [lower-alpha 7] top page archived 2013 [lower-alpha 8] newsletter 2012.2 [lower-alpha 9] newsletter 2013.2 [lower-alpha 10] current top page [lower-alpha 11]
  2. Honor books were instituted in 1989.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Seven acceptance speeches have been published online in one of two locations: [1] [6] Monica Hughes, 2000; Peter Dickinson, 2001; Zibby Oneal, 2002; Berlie Doherty, 2004; Peter Dickinson, 2008; Virginia Euwer Wolff, 2011; and Karen Hesse, 2012.
  4. The version of When the Wind Stops, written by Zolotow and illustrated by Vitale, eligible for the award was published by HarperCollins in 1995: OCLC   731251488. The original edition, written by Zolotow and edited by Ursula Nordstrom, was published in 1962 with illustrations by Howard Knotts (Harper & Row, OCLC   427201792) and by Joe Lasker (Abelard-Schuman, OCLC   680167163).

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Phoenix Award" Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine (current top page). Children's Literature Association (ChLA). Retrieved 2014-07-11.
  2. 1 2 "Phoenix Picture Book Award" Archived 2016-12-19 at the Wayback Machine . ChLA. 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-11.
  3. 1 2 "The Phoenix Award" [ permanent dead link ] (brochure). ChLA. 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-24 and 2014-07-11.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Phoenix Award" (top page). ChLA. Archived 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  5. 1 2 3 "Phoenix Award" (top page). ChLA. Archived 2013-12-11. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
  6. "List of Phoenix Award Papers" (2000–2010). ChLA. Archived 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2014-07-13. The linked papers are not archived here (Internet Archive).
  7. 1 2 3 4 ChLA Newsletter. Vol. 19, Issue 2 (Autumn 2012) Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine . p. 6. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 ChLA Newsletter. Vol. 20, Issue 2 (Autumn 2013) Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine . pp. 6–7. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
      Pages 2–7 comprise material related to the June 2014 annual conference.
  9. "Previous Award and Honor Books Recipients" Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine (1985–2009). ChLA. January 2010. Retrieved 2014-07-13.