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Bank Street College of Education
Irma Simonton Black was a writer and editor of children's books. She was also a founder of the Bank Street Writer's Laboratory.
This award has been presented annually since 1973 by the Bank Street College of Education. It has been presented as the Irma S. Black award until 1992, when James Black's name was added on in recognition of his passionate support for the award. The award is given to a children's picture book that is a good book for older and younger children. The unique aspect of this award is that it is chosen by children themselves.
A set of 6 to 10 books are selected by a committee of adult readers and delivered to 8-10 year olds' classrooms. They choose up to three, and only three, books that are their favorite. After this, a new set of books is presented and the same procedure is followed. There are four sets in all.
In the first week of March,the children's librarian, meets with each whole class for about one hour to talk about the books. Then, at the end of the hour, everybody votes for the top three titles they wish to send onto the final judges.
The top three books are then sent to the 5-7 year olds. They all pick their favorite out of these three books and vote on it. The book picked is given the award.
For more information on this award and a book list, go to:
http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/isblack.html
