ALA Youth Media Awards winners post reaction videos to award’s YouTube channel

CHICAGO – On Jan. 23 the ALA announced winners of 18 awards that represent the best of the best in children’s and young adult literature and media. Several of this year’s winners and honorees have expressed their appreciation by posting videos to the ALA Youth Media awards YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/ALAYouthMediaAwards.

More than 50 subscribers and 9,600 viewers have enjoyed videos from such award winners as author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh, winner of the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award for “Diego Rivera: His World and Ours,” published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS; Pura Belpré Author winner and William C. Morris Award Finalist author Guadalupe Garcia McCall, for “Under the Mesquite,” published by Lee and Low Books Inc.; author and illustrator Josh Schneider, Theodor Seuss Geisel Award recipient for “Tales for Very Picky Eaters,” published by Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company; and author Steve Sheinkin, YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults winner for “The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery,” published by Flash Point/Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

Award honorees and finalists also submitted videos including Pura Belpré Illustrator Award honoree Rafael López, “The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred,” written by Samantha R. Vamos and published by Charlesbridge; Caldecott Honoree author and illustrator John Rocco, “Blackout,” published by Disney ·Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group; Theodore Geisel Award honorees author and illustrators Paul Meisel, “See Me Run,” published by Holiday House and Mo Willems, “I Broke My Trunk,” published by Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group; Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award honorees Larry Dane Brimner, “Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor,” published by Calkins Creek, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press, Inc. and author and illustrator Rosalyn Schanzer, “Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem,” published by the National Geographic Society; and William C. Morris Award finalists author Ruta Sepetys, “Between Shades of Gray,” published by Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group USA and author Rae Carson, “The Girl of Fire and Thorns,” published by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

More videos will be added to the ALA Youth Media Awards YouTube channel over the next few weeks.

Each year the American Library Association (ALA) honors books and media for children and teens. Recognized worldwide for the high quality they represent, ALA Youth Media Awards, including the prestigious Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and Coretta Scott King Book Awards, guide parents, educators, librarians and others in selecting the best materials for youth. Selected by committees composed of librarians and other literature and media experts, the awards encourage original and creative work in the field of children’s and young adult literature and media.

For more information regarding the ALA Youth Media Awards please visit www.ala.org/yma.