The Social Justice Literature Award

ILA’s Literacy and Social Responsibility Special Interest Group (L-SR SIG) is pleased to announce winners in The Social Justice Literature Award, presented first in 2013. The inaugural committee was co-chaired by Carolyn Cook, Kenny Fasching-Varner, and Aimee Rogers. See our Leadership section to identify chairs for the next award cycle.

This award is presented to honor books that address social responsibility towards individuals, communities, societies, and/or the environment as well as invite reflection and socially responsible action by the reader.

Winning books are recognized at ILA’s annual conference as part of the L-SR SIG Program. Additionally, the books are featured on our website with links to the authors/illustrators and publishers and other information such as reviews of the books and suggestions for classroom use. Click on the link naming the book title for the detailed information. All winners for one year are listed on the same page, and committee members are listed at the end of that page.

A committee of eight SIG members who are education and literature professionals select the books. Letters are sent to publishers to submit books that meet the criteria. Members read and vote on the books. The top books are discussed electronically and a final vote is taken, with no more than 10% of the total books submitted for consideration in a given year selected annually. Interested individuals may submit suggestions for a book to be considered, and the nomination is complete when the publisher sends copies to each member of the committee.

Criteria for the Award

Selected books include picture books and non-picture books, with poetry, narrative, and nonfiction titles appropriate for each category. Books selected for a given year must be published in the United States by the end of the preceeding year (so 2023 books are published in 2022). They must meet the following criteria:

• Strong Literary and Artistic Qualities, including but not limited to:
  
  • Fostering respect and understanding of a diverse population
  • Promoting equity, justice, peace, and/or social responsibility
  • Presenting social issues in their complexity
  • Addressing social responsibility towards individuals, communities, societies, and/or the environment

• Reader Response:
  • Appealing to the intended audience
  • Inviting reflection and socially responsible action by the reader
  • Analyzing causes of injustice and revealing alternatives and/or challenges to the injustice, opening the imagination to other possibilities
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

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