Masterpiece wins 2011 Children's Crown Award

Yahoo!

While away, I received the lovely news (complete with a fancy framed award) that Masterpiece had won this year's Children's Crown Award.

The mission of the Children's Gallery, the Children's Crown, and the Lamplighter Awards is to encourage elementary and junior high students to read wholesome and uplifting books by providing lists each year of the best literature.

In 1992 Sandra Morrow librarian at Brentwood Christian School in Austin, Texas, applied to the Texas Christian Schools Association for a grant to establish the Children's Crown Award (the Crown Classic is the runner-up) for children's books for fourth through sixth graders. The grant was awarded the following spring. In 2002 Sandra received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Lubbock Christian University. In 2005 she received the Distinguished Alumni Citation from Abilene Christian University. She was recognized for her distinctive professional achievement for the Triple Crown Awards.

Now students, teachers, parents, librarians and interested individuals are encouraged to nominate titles for this award from books that are published or reprinted within the last two years. At the center of the award process is the criteria developed at the time of the grant. Each year twenty books that convey wholesome values, uplifting characters, and edifying themes that inspire children toward positive goals are selected by a committee of readers from participating schools.

Students vote on their favorite book each spring, and the results are tallied and the authors, publishers and schools are notified about the winners and runners-up. During winter, the lists for the following school year are sent to participating schools, as well as to authors and publishers whose books have been selected.

Thank you to EVERYONE involved! I am so pleased that Masterpiece is close to many children's hearts.