2017 South Carolina Book Awards Announced

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Greenville, SC, March 24, 2016: The 2017 South Carolina Book Award Winners were announced this Friday to attendees of the 42nd Annual South Carolina Association of School Librarians conference held at the Hyatt Regency Greenville.

The students of South Carolina have chosen:

 Picture Book Award: Rags: Hero Dog of WWI: A True Story by Margot Theis Raven, published by Sleeping Bear Press

 Children’s Book Award: El Deafo by CeCe Bell, published by Harry N. Abrams

 Junior Book Award: The Swap by Megan Shull, published by Katherine Tegen Books

 Young Adult Book Award: The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, published by HarperTeen

Since 1976 when sixteen schools participated, the book award program has been expanded to include more than 500 schools and more than 60,000 students participating in the program. The South Carolina Book Award Program includes a vetting process for each of the four levels of books. Committees composed of school librarians, public librarians, teachers, parents, and students read hundreds of books to create a list of 20 books for each level. Students who have read a minimum of three books for each of the YABA or JBA levels and a minimum of five books for the PBA or CBA levels vote in February for the book they feel is the best.

The winning authors are honored at the association’s annual conference held each March. The South Carolina Book Award Program was honored for its impact on literacy by the South Carolina Center for Children’s Books and Literacy at the University of South Carolina in 2012, when the program was named a Literacy Leader. The South Carolina Association of School Librarians provides an advocacy voice for the school library profession, working to provide decision makers with information that reinforces the impact of school library programs as significant factors in students’ academic achievements.