Starting March 1, children and teens across the country will begin voting to choose the winners of the 11th annual Children’s & Teen Choice Book Awards [8], sponsored by the nonprofit literacy organization Every Child a Reader [9]. Voting will take place at EveryChildaReader.net/vote [10] and in schools, bookstores, and libraries around the country through May 6.

The winners will be chosen from five finalists [11] in each of the three Children’s Choice Book Awards categories — K–2nd grades, 3rd–4th grades, and 5th–6th grades — and the Teen Book of the Year category.

The children’s finalists were chosen in pre-voting by thousands of children from different regions of the U.S., with supervision by the International Literacy Association. Teens nominated their favorite books of the year at TeenReads.com [12], and their top picks are the Teen Choice Book Award finalists.

The winning authors and illustrators will be announced on May 30 at a special ceremony at BookExpo.

To help booksellers promote voting, Every Child a Reader and the Children’s Book Council [13] offer an array of resources [14], including website banners, logos, sample social media posts, printable ballots, “I voted” stickers, e-mail signatures, and more, as well as a variety of voting tools [15].

Voting for the awards coincides with Children’s Book Week [16], which runs April 30–May 6.

Stores that signed up to participate and host activities for Children’s Book Week by February 19 will be part of the event’s national publicity campaign and will have access to exclusive materials designed by children’s book illustrators.

[17]This week, Every Child a Reader also debuted the official 2018 Children’s Book Week bookmarks [17], which were designed by five award-winning and bestselling children’s book illustrators: Sophie Blackall, Leo Espinosa, Vashti Harrison, Felicita Sala, and Don Tate. The bookmarks are available, along with activity pages and an original graphic novel, in the Fun Stuff section of the Every Child a Reader website [18].

Watch for voting to open on March 1 at EveryChildaReader.net/vote [10].