Phoenix Award

The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the book's rise from relative obscurity.[1]

The award was established and is conferred by the Children's Literature Association (ChLA), a nonprofit organization 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.[1]

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]

A parallel award for children's picture books, 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."[2]

Phoenix Award winners

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There have been 35 Award winners and 35 Honor Books announced since 1985 (1965 to 1998 publications).[1][3][4][5]

Phoenix Award 1985 to present[a]
Year Author Title Result Ref.
1985 Rosemary Sutcliff The Mark of the Horse Lord Winner
1986 Robert J. Burch Queenie Peavy Winner
1987 Leon Garfield Smith Winner
1988 Erik Christian Haugaard The Rider and his Horse Winner
1989[b] Helen Cresswell The Night Watchmen Winner
Milton Meltzer Brother Can You Spare a Dime? Honor
Adrienne Richard Pistol Honor
1990 Sylvia Engdahl Enchantress from the Stars Winner
William Mayne Ravensgill Honor
Scott O'Dell Sing Down the Moon Honor
1991 Jane Gardam A Long Way from Verona Winner
Ursula K. Le Guin The Tombs of Atuan Honor
William Mayne A Game of Dark Honor
1992 Mollie Hunter A Sound of Chariots Winner
1993 Nina Bawden Carrie's War Winner
E.L. Konigsburg A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver Honor
1994 Katherine Paterson Of Nightingales That Weep Winner
James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier My Brother Sam is Dead Honor
Sharon Bell Mathis Listen for the Fig Tree Honor
1995 Laurence Yep Dragonwings Winner
Natalie Babbitt Tuck Everlasting Honor
1996 Alan Garner The Stone Book Winner
William Steig Abel's Island Honor
1997 Robert Cormier I Am the Cheese Winner
1998 Jill Paton Walsh A Chance Child Winner
Robin McKinley Beauty Honor
Doris Orgel The Devil in Vienna Honor
1999 E.L. Konigsburg Throwing Shadows Winner
Rosa Guy The Disappearance Honor
Ouida Sebestyen Words by Heart Honor
2000[c] Monica Hughes Keeper of the Isis Light Winner
Jane Langton The Fledgling Honor
2001[c] Peter Dickinson The Seventh Raven Winner
Kathryn Lasky The Night Journey Honor
2002[c] Zibby Oneal A Formal Feeling Winner
Clayton Bess Story for a Black Night Honor
2003 Ivan Southall The Long Night Watch Winner
Cynthia Voigt A Solitary Blue Honor
2004[c] Berlie Doherty White Peak Farm Winner
Brian Doyle Angel Square Honor
2005 Margaret Mahy The Catalogue of the Universe Winner
Diana Wynne Jones Fire and Hemlock Honor
2006 Diana Wynne Jones Howl's Moving Castle Winner
Margaret Mahy The Tricksters Honor
Philip Pullman The Shadow in the Plate Honor
2007 Margaret Mahy Memory Winner
Sheila Gordon Waiting for the Rain Honor
2008 Peter Dickinson Eva Winner
Jane Yolen The Devil's Arithmetic Honor
2009 Francesca Lia Block Weetzie Bat Winner
Sylvia Cassedy Lucie Babbidge’s House Honor
2010 Rosemary Sutcliff The Shining Company Winner
2011[c] Virginia Euwer Wolff The Mozart Season Winner
Mary Downing Hahn Stepping on the Cracks Honor
Eloise McGraw The Striped Ships Honor
2012[c] Karen Hesse Letters from Rifka Winner [4]
Michael Dorris Morning Girl Honor [4]
Frances Temple Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti Honor [4]
2013 Gaye Hiçyilmaz The Frozen Waterfall Winner [5][7]
Walter Dean Myers Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary Honor [5][7]
2014 Gary Soto Jesse Winner [8]
Graham Salisbury Under the Blood Red Sun Honor [8]
2015 Kyoko Mori One Bird Winner [1]
2016 Andrew Clements Frindle Winner
2017 James Heneghan Wish Me Luck Winner
Paul Fleischman Seedfolks Honor
Naomi Shihab Nye Habibi Honor
2018 Elizabeth Partridge Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange Winner
2019 Louise Erdrich The Birchbark House Winner
Connie Porter Imani All Mine Honor
2020 Carolyn Coman Many Stones Winner
Walter Dean Myers 145th Street: Short Stories Honor
2021 Alyssa Brugman Finding Grace Winner
Chris Crutcher Whale Talk Honor
Tony Johnston Any Small Goodness Honor
2022 Julie Otsuka When the Emperor Was Divine Winner
Linda Sue Park When My Name Was Keko Honor
2023 Tim Tingle Walking the Choctaw Road Winner
Richard Maurer The Wright Sister: Katharine Wright and Her Famous Brothers Honor

Multiple awards

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As of 2021, there have been three two-time winners of the Phoenix Award:[3]

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 for other books: Konigsburg (1968 and 1997); Paterson (1978, 1981); Hesse (1998).

Picture Book Award winners

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The Phoenix Picture Book Award was first given in 2013, for books originally published in 1993.

Phoenix Picture Book Award, 2013 to present[2]
Year Author Title Result Ref.
2013 Kevin Henkes Owen Winner [7]
Denise Fleming In the Small, Small Pond Honor [7]
2014 Raymond Briggs The Bear Winner [8]
Anne Isaacs, illus. by Paul O. Zelinsky Swamp Angel Honor [8]
Peggy Rathmann Good Night, Gorilla Honor [8]
2015 Sara Fanelli My Map Book Winner
Kady MacDonald Denton Would They Love a Lion? Honor
Charlotte Zolotow, illus. by Stefano Vitale When the Wind Stops (revised and newly illustrated, 1995)[d] Honor
2016 Molly Bang Goose Winner
Julius Lester, illus. by Jerry Pinkney Sam and the Tigers Honor
2017 Mary McKenna Siddals, illus. by Petra Mathers Tell Me a Season Winner
Demi One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Tale Honor
2018 Robert D. San Souci and Brian Pinkney Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella Winner
Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman, illus. by Robin Preiss Glasser You Can’t Take A Balloon Into the Metropolitan Museum Honor
2019 Christopher Myers Black Cat Winner
Amy Littlesuger, illus. by Floyd Cooper Tree of Hope Honor
2020 Shaun Tan The Lost Thing Winner
Christopher Myers Wings Honor
2021 Grace Lin Dim Sum for Everyone! Winner
Francisco X. Alarcón, illus. by Maya Christina Gonzalez Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems/Iguanas en la nieve y otros poemas de inviero Honor
Shaun Tan The Red Tree Honor


2022 Allen Say Home of the Brave Winner
Lauren Child, illus. by Maya Christina Gonzalez Who’s Afraid of The Big Bad Book? Honor
Mordicai Gerstein What Charlie Heard Honor
Julius Lester, illus. by Joe Cepeda Why Heaven is Far Away Honor
2023 Marla Frazee Roller Coaster Winner
Yuyi Morales Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book Honor
Jerdine Nolen, illus. by Kadir Nelson Thunder Rose Honor

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b See multiple sources for identification of all winners and honor books 1985 to 2018 (as of June 2017): winners and honor books tables 1985 to 2009[9] brochure 1985 to 2012[3] top page archived 2012[4] top page archived 2013[5] newsletter 2012.2[7] newsletter 2013.2[8] current top page[1]
  2. ^ Honor books were instituted in 1989.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Seven acceptance speeches have been published online in one of two locations:[1][6] Monica Hughes, 2000; Peter Dickinson, 2001; Zibby Oneal, 2002; Berlie Doherty, 2004; Peter Dickinson, 2008; Virginia Euwer Wolff, 2011; and Karen Hesse, 2012.
  4. ^ The version of When the Wind Stops, written by Zolotow and illustrated by Vitale, eligible for the award was published by HarperCollins in 1995: OCLC 731251488. The original edition, written by Zolotow and edited by Ursula Nordstrom, was published in 1962 with illustrations by Howard Knotts (Harper & Row, OCLC 427201792) and by Joe Lasker (Abelard-Schuman, OCLC 680167163).

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Phoenix Award" Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine (current top page). Children's Literature Association (ChLA). Retrieved 2014-07-11.
  2. ^ a b "Phoenix Picture Book Award" Archived 2016-12-19 at the Wayback Machine. ChLA. 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-11.
  3. ^ a b c "The Phoenix Award"[permanent dead link] (brochure). ChLA. 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-24 and 2014-07-11.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Phoenix Award" (top page). ChLA. Archived 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  5. ^ a b c d "Phoenix Award" (top page). ChLA. Archived 2013-12-11. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
  6. ^ "List of Phoenix Award Papers" (2000–2010). ChLA. Archived 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2014-07-13. The linked papers are not archived here (Internet Archive).
  7. ^ a b c d e ChLA Newsletter. Vol. 19, Issue 2 (Autumn 2012) Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine. p. 6. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  8. ^ a b c d e f ChLA Newsletter. Vol. 20, Issue 2 (Autumn 2013) Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine. pp. 6–7. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
      Pages 2–7 comprise material related to the June 2014 annual conference.
  9. ^ "Previous Award and Honor Books Recipients" Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine (1985–2009). ChLA. January 2010. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
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