About the Award
The Irma Simonton Black and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children's Literature (Irma Black Award) goes to an outstanding book for young children - a book in which text and illustrations are inseparable, each enhancing and enlarging on the other to produce a singular whole. The Irma Black Award is unusual in that children are the final judges of the winning book.
The winning book receives a gold seal and the other three finalists will be honor books with a silver seal, both designed by Maurice Sendak. The award is a scroll (one each for the author and illustrator, if they are different) with the recipient's name and a gold seal.
The award is presented at a breakfast ceremony held in New York City in May that is attended by authors, illustrators, publishers, teachers, librarians, and alumni and friends of Bank Street College.
Check out the School Library Journal Irma Black Award Blog, written by Lisa Von Drasek.
