Lee B. Hopkins Poetry Award Teaching Toolbox

Friday, February 26, 2016

2016 Winner: ENCHANTED AIR

The 2016 winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award is:

Engle, Margarita. 2015. Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir. New York: Atheneum.

Click HERE for a reader's guide to Enchanted Air and HERE for Margarita Engle's website.

Friday, September 18, 2015

2015 Winner: THE CROSSOVER

The 2015 winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award is:

Alexander, Kwame. 2014. The Crossover. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Click HERE for a readers' guide for The Crossover.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

2014 Winner: ETCHED IN CLAY

This is the 2013 winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award:

Cheng, Andrea. 2013. Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet. New York: Lee & Low Books.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

2013 Winner: WATER SINGS BLUE

This is the 2012 winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award:

Coombs, Kate. 2012. Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems. Ill. by Meilo So. San Francisco: Chronicle.

About the Award

The Lee Bennett Hopkins award was established in 1993 and is presented annually to an American poet or anthologist for the most outstanding new book of children's poetry published in the previous calendar year.

It is co-sponsored by Mr. Hopkins himself, the Pennsylvania State University Libraries, the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, and an additional sponsor, Pennsylvania School Librarians Association.

Since its inception, the winning poet or anthologist has received a handsome plaque and a $1000 honorarium made possible by Mr. Hopkins, himself a poet and anthologist.

Check out the official award web site here.

Award Criteria

The award criteria specify that “good poetry is imaginative. It deals with emotion and has significance beyond the act of creation. It uses figurative language, yet is compact in thought and expression. Good poetry has an element of beauty and truth which appears unstable outside of the poem. The book which wins the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Children's Poetry must be accessible to children and its presentation must serve the poem or poems in an attractive and appropriate manner.” In recent years, the committee has also cited several honor books each year.

Want help selecting and sharing the best books of poetry for young people?