Award Applications

The Children's Literature Association (ChLA) is a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting serious scholarship and high standards of criticism in children's literature. To encourage these goals, the Association offers various awards and fellowships annually.

ChLA Research Fellowships and Scholarships have a combined fund of $1,000 per year, and individual awards may range from $250 to $1,000, based on the number and needs of the winning applicants. The fellowships are awarded for proposals dealing with criticism or original scholarship with the expectation that the undertaking will lead to publication and significantly contribute to the field of children's literature. In honor of the achievement and dedication of Dr. Margaret P. Esmonde, proposals that deal with critical or original work in the areas of fantasy or science fiction for children or adolescents will be awarded the Margaret P. Esmonde Memorial Scholarship. The awards may be used only for research-related expenses, such as travel to special collections or materials and supplies. The annual deadline for applications is February 1. For further information and application guidelines, contact the Scholarship Chair (see address below).

In addition to fellowships and scholarships, ChLA recognizes outstanding works in children's literature annually through the following awards. The ChLA Article Award is presented for an article deemed the most noteworthy literary criticism article published in English on the topic of children's literature within a given year. The ChLA Book Award is presented for the most outstanding book of criticism, history, or scholarship in the field of children's literature in a given year.

The Phoenix Award is given to the author, or estate of the author, of a book for children published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award at the time of publication, but that, from the perspective of time, is deemed worthy of special recognition for its high literary quality.

The Carol Gay Award is presented for the best undergraduate paper written about some aspect of children's literature. The annual deadline for applications is January 20.

For further information or to send nominations for any of the awards, contact the Children's Literature Association, P.O. Box 138, Battle Creek, MI 49016-0138, phone 616 965-8180; fax 616 965-3568; or by e-mail chla@mlc.lib.mi.us. This information is also at our web site, address http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/chla.