The Irma Black award, designed by Maurice Sendak

The kids have spoken!

The Irma Black Award, given by The Bank Street School,  is unusual in that children are the final judges of the winning book.  This year’s award went to Big Mean Mike, written by Michelle Knudsen and illustrated by Scott Magoon.  More than 7,500 first and second graders around the world voted  Big Mean Mike as their clear favorite.

There were three other Irma Black honor books, also chosen by kids themselves:

The Cook Prize medal, designed by Brian Floca

Children also choose The Cook Prize winners, sponsored by The Bank Street School:  The best science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) picture books published for children aged eight to ten. This year’s winner is:

The honor winners are:

Congratulations to all the winners!

Yesterday was a really big morning for us.  Not only was it the first ever ceremony for The Cook Prize, but it was also the morning that the Irma Simonton and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature (Irma Black Award) was presented to honor books and the winner.  The Irma Black Award has been presented annually by Bank Street since 1973. We had three wonderful, engaging and very funny speakers: Paul O. Zelinsky, Peter Brown and Fiona Robinson. Needless to say, it was a fantastic morning!

Like The Cook Prize, the Irma Black Award is a children’s choice award for an outstanding picture book with inseparable text and illustrations.  Thousands of children from around the world voted for this year’s winner, What Animals Really Like by Fiona Robinson (Abrams, 2011).  The three honor books are -

• All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel by Dan Yaccarino (Knopf, 2011)
• I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (Candlewick, 2011)
• You Will Be My Friend! by Peter Brown (Little, Brown, 2011)

And now, for some of our favorite moments…

Paul O. Zelinsky gives the keynote address (and brings down the house).

Lisa Von Drasek presents Peter Brown with his honor award.

Peter Brown

Lisa Von Drasek presents Fiona Robinson with her award.

Fiona Robinson

Peter Brown, Fiona Robinson, and Paul O. Zelinsky [R to L] autograph books for fans.

Connie Black Engle and Earl Engle

The Irma Simonton Black and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature (Irma Black Award) goes to an outstanding book for young children – a book in which text and illustrations are inseparable, each enhancing and enlarging on the other to produce a singular whole.

With more than 9,000 children from around the world casting votes, the winner of this year’s award is What Animals Really Like by Fiona Robinson.  The awards ceremony is May 17th at Bankstreet College of Education in New York City.