The Youth Media Awards for 2022 were announced at the American Library Association's Midwinter conference. Here is a complete list including the Newbery Award winner Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera and the Caldecott winner Watercress, illustrated by Jason Chen
This is the year that the Newbery Award reaches its centenary. Let's face it some of us age better than others. Time is not always our friend and those who choose not to change as time and society dictate can find themselves left behind or dismissed by younger generations with catchphrases like "Let's Go Boomer!" So how has the John Newbery Award fared over the past century? Is the award still relevant in its assertion that the awardee has made the "most distinguished contribution to American Literature for children" in a particular publishing year? Let's be transparent here, many of the award winners over these one hundred years should not have homes on library shelves in 2022. White euro-centric, racist, with harmful stereotypes and totally lacking in diversity among the authors and protagonists, many should only be part of a historical study of the evolution of literature for children as opposed to examples of the best and most distinguished or as part of literary canon for children.
Every year the American Library Association announces the Newbery Award winner at their mid-winter conference. They capture the interest of millions awaiting anxiously to learn of the year's recipient. The process is followed assiduously by the committee and is kept secret. While many speculate no one is quite sure until the titles and authors are announced in January of the award year.
There are dozens of awards given annually now. They are much more diverse and inclusive than would have been the case a century ago. Collectively they are known as the Youth Media Awards and include honorees such as:
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And, The American Indian Youth Literature Award; honoring the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America. (2022-Young Adult Book: Apple (Skin to the Core), written by Eric Gansworth [Onondaga], cover art by Filip Peraić, and published by Levine Querido.
There are dozens of others born out of the changing time and tides to include all that was being missed by the single and singular mission of the Newbery Award. So how has the OG stayed relevant over the past ten decades? The award winner is frequently the subject of controversy as we acknowledge that those chosen in the last century were as rife with stereotypes as some written 100 years ago. Even some we love like the Giver by Lois Lowry can be problematic. The novel is white-centric and lacks diverse characters. Fortunately, the range of winners has broadened over the past few years.
The original idea was to have a committee of librarians choose the winner. This continues to hold true. The founder of the award, Frederic G. Melcher, wanted the committee to be neutral and to disincentivize giving the award for profit. This is not to say the children's publishing industry isn't robust with nearly 32,000 children's books published annually. But there is no profit in the choice for the committee members and while we've discovered that librarians cannot truly remain neutral, they can be honest about who should be represented in the final selection and why.
If we wonder then what has changed to make the trajectory of the award more responsive and as representative as we would hope, the answer must be the librarians themselves who constitute the committee.
If we wonder then what has changed to make the trajectory of the award more responsive and as representative as we would hope, the answer must be the librarians themselves who constitute the committee. As a profession, librarianship is still not as diverse as it needs to be! Only a few years removed in some cities and states from the days when librarians denied children library cards because of their race, many are finding themselves in the role of activist. They find themselves on the front lines battling parents and school boards trying to raid the shelves and remove any book that challenges their rigid minds and questionable values in communities influenced by the harmful and dangerous misinformation found on the internet and specifically social media.
There is a renewed commitment by the American Library Association and the Newbery Committee to choose and promote culturally and racially diverse books and authors. Hopefully, they will continue to own this responsibility and choose books that are truly representative of "American Literature for children" with all of our cultures, and peoples. The publishing industry has made incremental changes in diversifying the characters and authors in the books they choose to publish. This makes the possibility of a shortlist of nominees that looks more like the "American children" for whom the books are chosen possible; even more so than just a few years ago.
Librarians and many others look forward to the annual January announcement and are deeply invested in the award even as they hope for continuing change that will usher in a revitalized and still relevant second 100 years of Newbery Award choices. So what should we keep and what should we change as the Newbery Award enters its second century? Stay tuned, every January to be excited and surprised as we see what the next hundred years will bring.