36th Annual Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children’s Literature
The Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children’s Literature is granted annually to works of literary excellence for nine- to twelve-year-olds. The award is in remembrance of Judy Lopez, a founding member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Women’s National Book Association who was passionate about seeing children’s literature of quality recognized and rewarded.
Each year, a committee of librarians, teachers and others interested in children’s literature select a winning book and several honor books. Books submitted for the award must have been published in the United States in the year preceding the award. The author must be a United States citizen or a resident of the United States.
The medal awarded the winning book was designed by sculptor Alex Shagrin and modeled after Judy’s daughter, Coco. It is cast in solid bronze. The medalist and the authors of the honor books are celebrated each year at an annual awards ceremony.
Established in 1985, the Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children’s Literature is administered by the Los Angeles Chapter of the Women’s National Book Association.
Follow us on YouTube for the 36th Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children’s Literature celebrating authors Jen Wang, Kate Allen, Cynthia Kadohata and Jason Reynolds! We invite you to relax at home and enjoy a cup of tea with us as we celebrate our authors and their books.
• Where: Your Home watching the WNBA-LA YouTube Channel • Dress: Formal or comfortable, your choice • Date: Now available to watch!
Donations are welcome to help promote the award and to support excellence in children’s literature. All contributions are tax-deductible. WNBA-LA is a 501(c)(3) organization.
Winners List of the Judy Lopez Memorial Awards Since 1986
2021: Everything Sad is UnTrue: by Daniel Nayeri
2020: Look Both Ways: a Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum/Caitlin Dlouhy Bks)
2019: The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M. T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin (Candlewick Press)
2018: Refugee by Alan Gratz (Dial Books)
2017: Pax by Sara Pennypacker (Balzer + Bray)
2016: The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Dial Books For Young Readers)
2015: El Deafo by Cece Bell (Amulet Books)
2014: The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt (Atheneum)
2013: Wonder by R. J. Palacio (Alfred A. Knopf)
2012: Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby (Scholastic Press)
2011: Grounded by Kate Klise (Feiwel and Friends)
2010: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (Henry Holt)
2009: We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson (Jump at the Moon/Hyperion)
2008: The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion Books)
2007: The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages (Viking)
2006: Harry Sue by Sue Stauffacher (Alfred A. Knopf)
2005: The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer (Atheneum)
2004: The Way a Door Closes by Hope Anita Smith (Henry Holt)
2003: The Red Rose Box by Brenda Woods (G. P. Putnam’s Sons)
2002: Shipwrecked! The True Story of a Japanese Boy by Rhoda Blumberg (HarperCollins)
2001: Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan (Scholastic Press)
2000: The Gate in the Wall by Ellen Howard (Atheneum/Jean Karl)
1999: No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War by Anita Lobel (Greenwillow Books)
1998: Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye (Simon & Schuster) and Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang (HarperCollins)
1997: The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker by Cynthia DeFelice (Farrar Straus Giroux)
1996: Spying on Miss Müller by Eve Bunting (Clarion Books)
1995: My Brother, My Sister, and I by Yoko Kawashima Watkins (Bradbury Press)
1994: The Boggart by Susan Cooper (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
1993: Blue Skin of the Sea by Graham Salisbury (Delacorte Press)
1992: Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi (Houghton Mifflin)
1991: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi (Orchard Books)
1990: The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen (Orchard Books)
1989: The Trouble with Gramary by Betty Levin (Greenwillow Books)
1988: M.E. and Morton by Sylvia Cassedy (Crowell)
1987: Come a Stranger by Cynthia Voigt (Macmillan)
1986: Prairie Songs by Pam Conrad (Harper & Row)
