2023 Nominees

We are very pleased to announce the nominees for the 2023 North Carolina Children's Book Awards.  We selected twelve titles for both lists because of possible availability issues.  In order to vote, children should read at least 5 picture book nominees and/or 3 junior book nominees.

Annotated Picture Book list
Annotated Junior Book list

Picture Books

Junior Books

The Box Turtle Roeder, Vanessa..  New York : Dial Books, 2020. The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng Gholz, Sophia. Illustrated by Kayla Harren.   Sleeping Bear Press, 2019. Dozens of Doughnuts Finison, Carrie. Illustrated by Brianne Farley.  G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2020. Eat Your Rocks, Croc! Keating, Jess. Illustrated by Pete Oswald.  New York : Orchard Books, 2020. Except Antarctica! Sturgell, Todd.  Naperville, IL : Sourcebooks Explore, 2021. How to Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps Winstanley, Nicola. Illustrated by John Martz.   Toronto, ON : Tundra Books, 2019. I'm Trying to Love Garbage Barton, Bethany.  New York : Viking Books for Young Readers, 2021. It Fell From the Sky Fan, Terry and Eric.  New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021. Mars! Earthlings Welcome McAnulty, Stacy. Illustrated by Stevie Lewis.  New York : Henry Holt & Co., 2021. Nigel and the Moon Eady, Antwan. Illustrated by Gracey Zhang.   New York : Katherine Tegen Books, 2022. A Song of Frutas Engle, Margarita. Illustrated by Sara Palacios.   New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2021. Watercress Wang, Andrea. Illustrated by Jason Chin.  New York : Neal Porter Books, 2021.

Amari and the Night Brothers Alston, B.B..  New York : Balzer + Bray, 2021. Clean Getaway Stone, Nic.  New York : Crown Books for Young Readers, 2020. Flower Talk: How Plants Use Color to Communicate Levine, Sara.  Illustrated by Masha D'yans. Minneapolis : Millbrook Press, 2019. How to Build an Insect Gibson, Roberta. Illustrated by Anne Lambelet.  Minneapolis : Millbrook Press, 2021. Katie the Catsitter Venable, Colleen AF. Illustrated by Stephanie Yue.   New York : Random House Children's Books, 2021. A Place at the Table Faruqi, Saadia and Laura Shovan.   Boston : Clarion Books, 2020. Rez Dogs Bruchac, Joseph.   New York : Dial Books for Young Readers, 2021. Skunk and Badger Timberlake, Amy. Illustrated by Jon Klassen.   Chapel Hill, NC ; Algonquin Young Readers, 2020. Unplugged Korman, Gordon.  New York : Balzer + Bray, 2021. Willodeen Applegate, Katherine.  New York : Feiwel and Friends, 2021. A Wolf Called Wander Parry, Rosanne.  New York : Greenwillow Books, 2019. The World Ends in April McAnulty, Stacy.  New York : Random House Books for Young Readers, 2019.

2022 Picture Book and Junior Book Winners!

 The votes have been collected and tallied!  We have our winners for the 2022 North Carolina Children's Book Awards.  For the complete results, please visit the 2022 Results and Materials page.

Bad Dog, written and illustrated by Mike Boldt, is the winner of the picture book category with 13,534 votes.

 New Kid, written and illustrated by Jerry Craft, is the winner of the junior book category with 1,097 votes.

 We would like to thank all of the children who participated by voting in schools and local public libraries or virtually on this website.  Giving kids a voice in choosing their favorites is what this award is all about so THANK YOU for voting!

The committee will be meeting mid-May to select the nominees for the 2023 Awards.  Check back in again soon!

2022 Kid's voting is open!

 

It's time for kids to vote for their favorite books!  

Kids may vote online, through their school librarians, or at their public library.  The deadline for voting is April 22.

Kids read or listen to at least 5 of the Picture Book Nominees, then vote - HERE.
(If you still need to checkout the nominees, please go to the 2022 Picture Book Nominees tab.)

Kids read or listen to at least 3 of the Junior Book Nominees, then vote - HERE.
(If you still need to checkout the nominees, please go to the 2022 Junior Book Nominees tab.)

 

NEXT YEAR'S AWARDS:

Please remember we are also accepting nominations for next year's awards.  Kids should use THIS FORM or go to the tab at the top of the page to submit their favorites.  

 

Librarians/Teachers:  please submit the votes you collected from your students/patrons using the Librarian Vote Tally Form located on the Librarian/Teacher Resource page

Voting deadline is April 22

 Voting deadline for 2022 NCCBA is 5 p.m on Friday, April 22.

Kids will be able to vote online from March 1 - April 22, 2022.  Librarians should collect votes during the month of March and submit the total votes for all titles by April 22.

Google forms for voting will be available March 1. 

Kids please nominate your favorite books for next year's award! (Go to the Nominate 2023 tab above.)

2023 Nominations

NOMINATE A BOOK

 

It's time to start nominating books for the 2022-2023 North Carolina Children's Book Awards!  Nominations are submitted by the children of North Carolina in grades K-6th.  Teachers and librarians may help children enter their nominations, but no teacher or librarian should enter their own favorites.  That's what makes this award so special - the books are nominated by kids and voted on by kids to determine the top two books of the year!  Click on "nominate a book" to get started.

Kids may nominate more than one favorite.