From: jzuckerman at nypl.org <jzuckerman>
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 1996 14:16:05 -0500

Maggie Denman-West's question, "How about ccbc coming up with a new
     award?" led me to recollect the genesis of the Scott O'Dell award for
     Historical Fiction. As I remember, O'Dell wanted to recognize and
     encourage the publication of quality historical fiction, a genre dear
     to his heart. He spoke to his longtime friend Zena Sutherland, who was
     then the Editor of the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books at
     the University of Chicago. He was prepared to provide a large monetary
     prize, but he needed someone to help him with logistics (defining
     criteria for the award, deciding on the selection procedure, etc.) and
     to lend institutional validity to the award. Ultimately, Zena and the
     BCCB Advisory Board became the "jury" for the award, and the rest is
     history. Perhaps Roger Sutton remembers more of the details.
     
     Is is possible that there is an "Elder Statesperson" of YA literature
     out there who would take the initiative to spearhead a new YA
     literature award? I don't want to create problems for all you
     wonderful folks at the CCBC, but there are many similarities between
     the U. of C. Center for Children's Books (sadly,no longer in
     existence) and the CCBC -- that's what jogged my memory. I was
     attending the U. of C. Graduate Library School and working as an
     assistant to Zena at the time the O'Dell Award was being created.
     While the CCBC could not be expected to create a new award on its own
     ititiative, maybe someone out there could follow O'Dell's example.
     
     What do other people out there think of this possibility? Is an award
     presented outside the ALA structure easier to initiate? Would it be
     considered less prestigious than a YALSA award?
     
     Judy Zuckerman
     Bronx Children's Specialist
     New York Public Library
     jzuckerman at nypl.org
Received on Mon 04 Mar 1996 01:16:05 PM CST