The American Library Association [6] (ALA) has announced the winners of the Andrew Carnegie Medals [7] for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction and the winners of the ALA Youth Media Awards [8], including the prestigious Newbery and Caldecott Medals. The award winners were revealed at the association’s Midwinter Meeting, held February 9–13 in Denver. The awards will be presented at the ALA Annual Conference, to be held June 21–26 in New Orleans.

This year’s winners are:

For Adults

Winner of the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, recognizing the best fiction book for adult readers published in the U.S. the previous year: Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan (Scribner)

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, recognizing the best nonfiction book for adult readers published in the U.S. the previous year: You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown)

Winner of the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction

More information regarding the winning titles is available on the Andrew Carnegie Medals website. [7]

For Children

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature: Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly (Greenwillow)

Newbery Honor Books: Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James (Denene Millner); Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Caitlyn Dlouhy); and Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)

Winner of the 2018 Newbery Medal

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children: Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell (Feiwel and Friends)

Caldecott Honor Books: Big Cat, Little Cat, written and illustrated by Elisha Cooper (Roaring Brook Press); Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James (Denene Millner); A Different Pond, by Bao Phi, illustrated by Thi Bui (Capstone Young Readers); and Grand Canyon, written and illustrated by Jason Chin (Roaring Brook Press)

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award, recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults: Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)

Winner of the 2018 Caldecott Medal

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award: Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets by Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderly and Marjory Wentworth, illustrated by Ekua Holmes (Candlewick Press)

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award: The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement: Eloise Greenfield 

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults: We Are Okay by Nina LaCour (Dutton Books for Young Readers)

Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience:

For ages 0 to 8: Silent Days, Silent Dreams, written and illustrated by Allen Say (Arthur A. Levine Books)

For ages 9 to 13: Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess by Shari Green (Pajama Press)

For ages 13 to 18: You’re Welcome, Universe, written and illustrated by Whitney Gardner (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

Alex Awards, administrated by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) to the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences:

• All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Tor.com)
• The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson (Doubleday)
• Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com)
• Electric Arches by Eve L. Ewing (Haymarket Books)
• A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea by Melissa Fleming (Flatiron Books)
• Malagash by Joey Comeau (ECW Press)
• Roughneck by Jeff Lemire (Gallery 13)
• She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper (Ecco)
• Things We Have in Common by Tasha Kavanagh (MIRA Books)
• An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard (SAGA Press)

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the U.S., have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children: Jacqueline Woodson

Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults: Angela Johnson

2018 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award, recognizing an author, critic, librarian, historian, or teacher of children’s literature who then presents a lecture at a winning host site: Dr. Debbie Reese

Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children’s book translated from a foreign language and subsequently published in the U.S.: The Murderer’s Ape (Mördarens Apa), written and illustrated by Jakob Wegelius, translated from Swedish by Peter Graves (Delacorte Press)

Odyssey Award for best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the U.S.: The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, narrated by Bahni Turpin (HarperAudio)

Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award, honoring a Latino writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm, and celebrate the Latino cultural experience: La Princesa and the Pea, by Susan Middleton Elya and illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Pura Belpré (Author) Award: Lucky Broken Girl, by Ruth Behar (Nancy Paulsen Books)

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children: Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961 by Larry Dane Brimner (Calkins Creek)

Stonewall Book Award – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award, given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender experience: Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert (Little, Brown and Company) and The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater (FSG Books for Young Readers)

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book: Charlie & Mouse by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Emily Hughes (Chronicle Books)

William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (Balzer + Bray)

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults: Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman (Godwin Books/Henry Holt)

More information on the 2018 ALA Youth Media Award winners [9], as well as this year’s YMA honor books, is available on the ALA website.