Phoenix Award

The Children's Literature Association Phoenix Award recognizes books of exceptional literary merit. First presented in 1985, it is given to the author, or the estate of the author, of a book for children first published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award at the time of its publication but which, from the perspective of time, is deemed worthy of special attention. Since 1989, honor books have also been named.

Submission Period and Key Notes:

• Anyone may nominate a book by the deadline of October 1 of each year.
• The committee meets during the ChLA Annual Conference to prepare the shortlist and begin its final deliberations for the award.
• Be aware, the committee reads two years in advance. So, for example, all nominations for the 2024 award must be received in 2022.
• The award honors a book published twenty years prior. See more detail in the Selection Criteria below.

Nomination Form

Selection Criteria:

• The award goes to a book published in the year twenty years before the annual conference at which it is awarded. The 2024 award, for example, is for a book published in 2004.
  
  
• The book must have been originally published in English. Books do not need to have a minimum page count to be considered.
  
  
• The book must not have won a major award although it may have been a finalist, honor book, runner-up, or commended, whatever term is used. A book is ineligible for consideration if it has won any one of the following awards or prizes:
  • Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award
  • Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
  • Governor General's Literary Awards
  • Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award
  • Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Young Adults
  • Carnegie Medal
  • Coretta Scott King Award
  • Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize
  • Michael L. Printz Award
  • National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
  • New Zealand Library Association Esther Glen Medal
  • Newbery Medal
  • Newbery Honor Medal
  • Pura Belpré Award
  • Whitbread Children’s Book Award (Renamed the Costa Book Award, 2006)
  • The Nebula Award (added in 2008)
  • The Hugo Award (added in 2008)
  • Other major awards may be added in future years.

• The book may be a retelling or an edited work, such as an anthology, not simply a reprinting or new edition.
  
  
• The book is to be judged on its literary merit.
  
  
• The book does not have to be in print.
  
  
• The author does not have to be alive.
  
  
• If the Phoenix Award Committee finds no book suitable for the award, it need not be given in that year.
  
  
• A maximum of two honor books may be, but are not necessarily, designated.
  
  
• The award winner is selected two years prior to the conference at which the award is given. For example, the award announced and presented at the 2014 ChLA annual conference was chosen in 2012.

The Children's Literature Association Proudly Announces

The 2022 Phoenix Award Recipient:

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, Knopf, 2002

Julie Otsuka’s spare, stunning novel When the Emperor Was Divine begins with a series of goodbyes: to a family home, to a neighborhood, to a beloved pet, to security and freedom. In the aftermath of Executive Order 9066, Otsuka's story follows a family whose members are intentionally left nameless as they are uprooted and traumatized by the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans. Through each character’s perspective, Otsuka underscores the physical and psychological damage not only of their time in the camp but also pre- and post-incarceration. Equally important, she illuminates the strength, resolve, and tenacity of survivors. When the woman says of a lost earring, “Or maybe, it’s just gone. Sometimes things disappear and there’s no getting them back. That’s just how it is,” she is preparing her children for larger losses to come even as she teaches them how to mourn them. As relevant now as when it was first published, When the Emperor Was Divine asks readers to bear witness to the devastating effects of racism and xenophobia.

 The 2022 Phoenix Honor Book Recipient: 

When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park, Clarion Books, 2002

In When My Name Was Keoko, Linda Sue Park weaves together the stories of siblings Sun-hee and Tae-yul Kim as they navigate the dangers of Japanese-occupied Korea during World War II. Over and over again, they are required to give up the things that make them Korean--their language, their culture, and even their names. Sun-hee's chapters provide an inside perspective on the Kim family and on the people in their neighborhood and school, while Tae-yul narrates the growing conflict of the war and the danger it presents to his family and country. The recurring themes of resilience and courage are underscored by the ongoing resistance of both adult and child characters: Mr. Kim chooses a new Japanese surname that ties them back to their Korean identity, Uncle publishes an underground newspaper, and Mrs. Kim hides a rose of Sharon tree that is outlawed under occupation. As Sun-hee practices subterfuge through her writing, Tae-yul enlists in the Japanese army as a kamikaze pilot to protect his family. Ultimately Sun-hee realizes her Korean identity, that her thoughts are Korean regardless of what language she’s forced to speak. As Sun-hee’s elderly neighbor declares, “They cannot have my thoughts. I will not allow it.” When My Name Was Keoko brings to life a crucial and underrepresented historical event that illuminates both the realities of living under occupation and the possibilities of resistance.

Past Phoenix Award Winners: