At 8am (EST) today, on the last day of the midwinter conference, the American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards announced winners and honorees in various categories across the children’s book spectrum. The ALA YMA are recognized worldwide and awardees are chosen by librarians and educators across the country. Librarians can play a key role in terms of outreach for books because of scale of funding they have to populate their libraries, which means these awards can aid a low profile to become well-known bestseller by garnering more notice for school lists and an increase in visit requests for honorees and winners. For instance, the John Newbery medal is considered one of the highest honors at the ALA YMA. It is awarded to the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. Last year’s Newbery medal recipient, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Young Readers), went on to become a New York Times best-seller two weeks after the honor was announced……

Source: Top Youth Literary Awards Announced At ALAYMA This Morning – Forbes