Special Announcement: 2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Finalists

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2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Finalists Announced

The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is pleased and proud to announce the finalists for the 2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction.  Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of young adult author Amelia Elizabeth Walden, the award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be presented annually to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Committee as demonstrating a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit.

The 2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award finalists are:

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
(St. Martin’s Griffin)

eleanor

Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott
(Henry Holt / Christy Ottaviano Books)

jumped

The Milk of Birds by Sylvia Whitman
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers)

milk

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg
(Arthur A. Levine Books)

openly

Winger by Andrew Smith
(Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

winger

All Walden Award titles will be identified by an award sticker—gold for the winner and silver for the four finalists.  The winner will be announced on Wednesday, July 30th.  The winning title and finalists will be honored on at the 2014 ALAN Workshop on Monday, November 24th at 4:25pm in Washington, D.C. and will be invited to participate in a panel discussion.

The 2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee would like to thank: the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Foundation, the ALAN Executive Council, the ALAN Board of Directors, NCTE, and the thirty-six publishers who submitted titles for consideration.

The 2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee considered nearly 300 young adult titles throughout the process.  The committee was comprised of eleven members representing the university, K-12 school, and library communities.  They are:

Kellee Moye, Committee Chair
Teacher/Reading Coach
Hunter’s Creek Middle School, Orlando, FL

Lois Buckman, Past Committee Chair
Assistant Librarian
Anderson County Public Library, Anderson, SC

Jonatha Basye
Teacher/Librarian
Bryan Elementary, Hampton, VA

Ernest Cox
Librarian
Prairie Creek Intermediate School, Cedar Rapids, IA

Paul Hankins
English Language & Composition Teacher
Silver Creek High School, Sellersburg, IN

Nancy Johnson
Professor, Children’s/Young Adult Literature & English/Language Arts Education
Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

Sara Kajder
English Teacher
Shady Side Academy, Pittsburgh, PA

Mark Letcher
Assistant Professor English Education
Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN

Suzanne Metcalfe
Librarian
Dimond High School, Anchorage, Alaska

Mindi Rench
Reading Coach/Literacy Coach
Northbrook Junior High School, Northbrook, IL

Lois Stover
Dean – School of Education and Human Services
Marymount University, Arlington, VA

For more information on the award, please visit ALAN Online: The Official Site of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents.

I am so excited to share this list with you all! It is a list I am so proud of, and I cannot wait to see which of these amazing titles ends up being our winner!

Signature

Check out our reviews of Eleanor & ParkOpenly StraightJumped InWinger (Ricki’s, Kellee’s), and The Milk of Birds

2 thoughts on “Special Announcement: 2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Finalists”

  1. Congratulations to all finalists! A special “congrats” to Patrick Flores-Scott! What a great honor. We’ll be pulling for you Patrick. Your extended family from SoCal!
    Sylvia, Linda, Vanessa, Jaime, and Nicolas

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