The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one
English-language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
children's book
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...
published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major
literary award
A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded Literature, literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations
Most literary awards come with a corresponding award c ...
. It is named for the
mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the book's rise from relative obscurity.
[
The award was established and is conferred by the ]Children's Literature Association
The Children's Literature Association (ChLA) is a non-profit association, based in the United States, of scholars, critics, professors, students, librarians, teachers, and institutions dedicated to studying children's literature.Margaret W. Denman ...
(ChLA), a nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
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.[
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.
A parallel award for children's ]picture books
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images.
The ima ...
, 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."[
]
Phoenix Award winners
There have been 35 Award winners and 35 Honor Books announced since 1985 (1965 to 1998 publications).[
]
Multiple awards
As of 2021, there have been three two-time winners of the Phoenix Award:[
* Rosemary Sutcliff, 1985, 2010
* Peter Dickinson, 2001, 2008
* Margaret Mahy, 2005, 2007
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
The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...
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.
See also
Notes
References
External links
Phoenix Award web page
Phoenix Picture Book Award web page
Children's Literature Association
(ChLA)
Awards from previous years
(1985–2007) at chla.wikispaces.com, predecessor to the ChLA website – identifies some publishers of later editions; provides award citations of 2005 to 2007 winners
* ''Children's Literature Association Quarterly'' , Volume 1 (1976) to present; annual conference ''Proceedings'', 1978 to 1991 only {{subscription required – open-access lists of contents include full bibliographic citations for articles and publications searches for authors
American children's literary awards
Awards established in 1985
1985 establishments in the United States