2020 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Winner

As the chair of the 2020 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award committee, I am pleased and proud to announce that the winner is: 

Lovely War by Julie Berry

The finalists are:

  

 

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
White Rose by Kip Wilson

For readers who aren't familiar with the Walden Award, it is given every year through the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE (ALAN) and the award criteria is:

1) Literary merit

2) Widespread teen appeal

3) Positive approach to life

Because the criteria for this award is so specific, it is a wonderful award to use in the classroom, whether it's just consulting the award list when you would like to adopt a new novel for whole-class or book club study OR you would like to do your own Mock Walden in your classroom or library.

Here is an interview with Julie Berry about her Walden Award win. 

Congratulations John Green: Winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award!

I was elated to wake up this morning and see on my news feed that John Green's The Fault in Our Stars had won the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award!

Seeing as how I know a few people on the Walden committee this year and how devastated I was that TFiOS didn't get a Printz nod, I have to give them a standing ovation for picking such a deserving title.

The books that were honored are equally as worthy:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
Endangered by Eliot Schrefer

The Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award has been in existence since 2008 and is given annually by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE (ALAN). The criteria for this award is that the winners must be works of fiction, "[exemplify] literary excellence, widespread appeal, and a positive approach to life in young adult literature."

I went to the ALAN workshop last year and wasn't going to go again this year, but now that John Green has won the Walden Award and might possibly make an appearance to accept it, I'm seriously reconsidering my decision to just attend NCTE and not ALAN. I heart John Green, what can I say? :)

If you're interested, the committee is currently seeking applicants. They are looking for one teacher, one librarian, and one university educator. If you're interested, all applications are due by September 15, 2013.