Announcing The 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Finalists

Press Release

2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Finalists Announced

The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is pleased and proud to announce the finalists for the 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction.  Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of young adult author Amelia Elizabeth Walden, the award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be presented annually to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Committee as demonstrating a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit. 

The 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award finalists are:

Diamond Boy by Michael Williams

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

Cinco Puntos Press

Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Penguin Young Readers Group

Revolution (The Sixties Trilogy) by Deborah Wiles

Scholastic Press

All Walden Award titles will be identified by an award sticker—gold for the winner and silver for the four finalists.  The winner will be announced on Tuesday, July 28^th.  The winning title and finalists will be honored on at the 2015 ALAN Workshop on Monday, November 23^rd at 4:25pm in Minneapolis, MN, and authors will be invited to participate in a panel discussion.

The 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee would like to thank: the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Foundation, the ALAN Executive Council, the ALAN Board of Directors, NCTE, and the thirty-six publishers who submitted titles for consideration.

The 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee considered nearly 300 young adult titles throughout the process.  The committee was comprised of eleven members representing the university, K-12 school, and library communities.  They are:

2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee

Lois Stover, Committee Chair

Dean – School of Education and Human Services
Marymount University, Arlington, VA

Kellee Moye, Past Committee Chair

Teacher/Reading Coach
Hunter’s Creek Middle School, Orlando, FL

Cathy Blackler

English/Journalism Teacher

Santana Alternative High School, La Puente, CA

Nancy J. Johnson

Professor, Children’s/YA Literature and English/Language Arts Education

Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

Sara Kajder

Assistant Professor English Education
University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Mark Letcher

Assistant Professor English Education

Lewis University, Romeoville, IL

Joellen Maples

Associate Professor, Graduate Literacy Program

St.  John Fisher College, Rochester, NY

Suzanne Metcalfe

Librarian

Dimond High School, Anchorage, Alaska

Beth Scanlon

Teacher

Cypress Creek High School, Orlando, FL

Lisa Scherff

English Teacher

Cypress Lake High School, Fort Myers, FL

Jessica Lorentz Smith

Librarian

Bend Senior High School, Bend, OR

For more information on the award, please visit ALAN Online: The Official Site of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents http://www.alan-ya.org/