Since 1940 young readers in the Pacific Northwest have been participating in the Young Reader’s Choice Award (YRCA). The award was established in 1940 by Harry Hartman, a Seattle bookseller, who believed every student should have an opportunity to select a book that gives him or her pleasure. The Young Reader’s Choice Award is sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Library Association and continues to be the longest-running children’s choice book award. It is also the only international award with young readers in both the United States and Canada participating in the program.
 

 View book trailers for the 2022 - 2023 nominees. 

Every year, the American Library Association honors the best in children's literature by presenting authors and illustrators with a variety of awards. 
The 2018 Newbery winner is Hello, Universe, written by Erin Entrada Kelly.
The 2018 Caldecott winner is Wolf in the Snow, illustrated and written by Matthew Cordel
The 2018 Coretta Scott King winners are Piecing Me Together, written by Renée Watson (author award) and Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets, illustrated by Ekua Holmes (illustrator award).

Below is information the Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Pura Belpre, and the Mildred L. Batchelder awards.

The John Newbery Award is given to "the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."

The Randolph Caldecott Award is given to "the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children."

The Coretta Scott King Awards are given to "recognize outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience."

The Pura Belpre Award "is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth."

The Mildren L. Batchelder Award is "awarded to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States."

Every year, kindergarten, first, second, and third graders participate in the Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award program, sponsored by the Washington Library Association. 
 

View a slideshow of the 2022 - 2023 nominees.
 The 2022 Washington Children's Choice winner is The Barnabus Project by the Fan Brothers.

View a slideshow of the 2022 nominees.

Every year since 1998, the Washington Library Association has nominated books for its Sasquatch Award. The award was established to recognize books that are of interest to student readers of Washington State in grades 4-6. Copyright dates must be 2-3 years prior to nomination date; for example this year's books must have been published in 2019 - 2020. The 2022 winner is KLAWDE - Evil Alien Warlord Cat by Johnny Marciano and Chenoweth. Previous years' winners include Front Desk by Kelly Yang, A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen, Wonder by R. J. Palacio, The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney, and Frindle by Andrew Clements.
 

Watch the book trailers of this year's nominees. 

The 2021 - 2022 Sasquatch Award Winner is...

The Washington State Student Award for Informational Text

The Towner Award is named after Bill Towner, longtime Seattle librarian and mentor to dozens of librarians. Bill was an outstanding teacher-librarian who worked with thousands of students from all backgrounds and taught all of them his love of literature. Bill showed us how caring teachers and librarians can make a difference.

This award is intended to complement other awards determined by student vote in the state of Washington; the Sasquatch, Washington’s Children Choice Picture Book and Young Readers’ Choice Awards. It is sponsored by the Washington Library Association School Library Division and intended for books enjoyed by students in grades Two through Six. 

For the purposes of this award, Informational Text is defined as that which serves chiefly to convey factual information to the reader and may contain biography, narrative and other forms.

Each year a slate of ten books will be selected by a group of librarians from Washington state. This group will include public and school librarians, and members will be selected so as to provide representation for different parts of the state.