Pura Belpré Award

About the Pura Belpré Award
The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, 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 Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, 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. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking (REFORMA), an ALA affiliate.

The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. As a children's librarian, storyteller, and author, she enriched the lives of Puerto Rican children in the U.S.A. through her pioneering work of preserving and disseminating Puerto Rican folklore.

It is now an annual award.  It was a biennial award from its inaugural year in 1996 through 2008. 

Administered by:

Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) logo

Young Adult Author

2021 Winner(s)

Winner

"Furia," written by Yamile Saied Méndez, published by Algonquin Young Readers an Imprint of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, a division of Workman Publishing.

2021 Honor(s)

Honor

"Never Look Back," written by Lilliam Rivera, published by Bloomsbury YA.

"We Are Not from Here," written by Jenny Torres Sanchez, published by Penguin Random House.

Youth Illustrator

2021 Winner(s)

Winner

"¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat," illustrated and written by Raúl the Third, published by Versify/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2021 Honor(s)

Honor

"Sharuko: El arqueólogo peruano Julio C. Tello/Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello," illustrated by Elisa Chavarri, written by Monica Brown, published by Children's Book Press, an imprint of Lee & Low Books.

Children's Author

2021 Winner(s)

Winner

"Efrén Divided", written by Ernesto Cisneros, published by Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books.

2021 Honor(s)

Honor

"Lupe Wong Won't Dance," written by Donna Barba Higuera, published by Levine Querido, Arthur A. Levine.

"The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez," written by Adrianna Cuevas, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group.