LITA Committee Recognizing Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction

Charge

To solicit submissions, select, annotate, and present for publication annually, the list of notable children's science fiction books published in the preceding year.

Books will be considered for children in three age groups:

  • picture books for preschool and early readers;
  • illustrated chapter books or short novels for older grade school students, ages 7-11; and
  • YA books for teens ages 12-18.

The LITA Committee Recognizing Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable Lists will be produced annually; in addition special recognition may be given for books that don’t exactly fit the categories. Titles that appear on the Lists are those that have been read, evaluated, and discussed by the full committee, in accordance with the committee's policies and procedures, and that the committee has come to a consensus that these titles are worthy of being placed on the Lists. 

Roster

Jenny Levine (Staff Liaison, October 5, 2016, to January 31, 2025)

Displaying active committee roster as of 03/18/2024. Last retrieved on 03/18/2024. Members can log in and refresh the page to view full contact information for committee members.

Composition

Consists of a chair, 5-7 members, and the past chair serving in an ex officio capacity to ensure transfer of knowledge. One member will be from the sponsoring organization and one member will be the LITA Imagineering Interest Group Chair or his/her designee. Members (other than those from the Sponsor and Imagineering IG) are appointed for staggered 2-year terms and cannot be appointed to consecutive terms except unless it is to serve in chair/past chair capacity. Chair appointments will be for 2 years, with the person acting as past chair in the 2nd year.

Origin

The awards began as the "Golden Duck Awards for Excellence in Children’s Science Fiction," and were sponsored by Super-Con-Duck-Tivity, the non-profit organization based in DuPage County Illinois that held the “DucKon” SF convention. The founders of the awards - Douglas Drummond, Helen Gbala, and Lindalee Stuckey – envisioned them as Hugo Awards for Children’s Literature. They were first presented at the World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon) held in Orlando in 1993.