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Charlotte Zolotow Award
The Charlotte Zolotow Award is given annually to the author of the best picture book text published in the United States in the preceding year. Any picture book for young children (birth through age seven) originally written in English and published by a U.S. or Canadian publisher in 2024 will be eligible for consideration for the 2025 Zolotow Award. The book may be fiction, nonfiction or folklore, as long as it is presented in picture book form for children in the birth through age seven range. Translated books, poetry collections, and easy readers are not eligible.
Established in 1998, the award is named to honor the work of Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children’s book editor for 38 years with Harper Junior Books. The award was established and is administered by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, a children’s literature library of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Each year a committee of children’s literature experts selects the winner from the books published in the preceding year. Members of the selection committee are appointed to a two-year term by the CCBC professional staff based on an individual’s knowledge of children’s books, a demonstrated ability to evaluate children’s books and discuss them critically, and/or direct experience working professionally with children from birth through age seven. A CCBC librarian serves as one of the five members. Members are appointed to staggered, two-year terms. The committee will select one winner. It may also designate up to five honor books and up to ten titles to be included on a highly commended list that will call attention to outstanding writing in picture books.
