ALA announced today that the awards press conference scheduled for Monday, January 23rd, will be webcast. The press release reads:
ALA to provide live Webcast of top children/teen literary awards announcement January 23
(CHICAGO) For the first time ever, the American Library Association (ALA) will pilot a live Webcast of its national announcement of the top books and video for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, King, Newbery and Printz awards – on January 23 at 7:55 a.m. CST. The award announcements are made as part of the ALA Midwinter Meeting, which will bring together more than 12,000 librarians, publishers, authors and guests in San Antonio from January 20 to 25.
Online visitors will be able to view the live Webcast the morning of the announcements by following the links that will be on the ALA home page and at news.ala.org. High-speed access will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. For ALA Midwinter Meeting participants, the press conference will be held in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center Ballroom C, and doors open at 7:30 a.m.
This year also marks the premier of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, which honors both the author and illustrator of an outstanding book for beginning readers, and the 10th anniversary of the Pura Belpré Award, which honors Latino writers and illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for youth. In celebration of the anniversary, ALA will show (and Webcast) a clip from a new Belpré video created by Scholastic and Weston Woods before the formal press conference announcement begins. The Alex Awards for the best adult books that appeal to teen audiences also will make their Midwinter Meeting debut. In past years, the 10 book picks were announced during National Library Week.
Awards to be announced January 23 are:
- Alex Awards for the best adult books that appeal to teen audiences
- Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children’s video
- Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children
- Coretta Scott King Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults that demonstrate sensitivity to "the true worth and value of all beings"
- Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults
- 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
- Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults
- Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children’s book translated from a foreign language and subsequently published in the United States
- Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature
- Pura Belpré Award honoring a Latino writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience
- Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children
- Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience
- Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the outstanding book for beginning readers
The press release announcing the 2006 award winners will be available online at www.ala.org by 10 a.m. CST. Adult book awards also announced during the conference include: Notable Books for Adults, the Black Caucus of the ALA Literary Awards and the Stonewall Awards. For more information on ALA literary awards, please visit: http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bookmediaawards
