The Buckeye Children’s and Teen Book Award program is designed to encourage students in Ohio to read literature critically, to promote teacher and librarian involvement in young adult literature programs, and to commend authors of such literature.
The Buckeyes are one of the only state reader’s choice awards in which students get to nominate the titles as well as vote on the final winners. The only adults who may submit nominations or votes are teachers and librarians who are representing a group of students from their school or library. This allows the Buckeyes to be truly a student-chosen award in all aspects. Categories include K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and teen.
The Choose to Read Ohio (CTRO) Booklists are curated by librarians and educators to promote reading across Ohio. Each booklist highlights 20 notable titles by Ohio authors for a for a two-calendar-year promotion period. Categories include Books for Young children, Tweens, Teens, and Adults. The CTRO booklists are supported by The State Library of Ohio, Ohioana Library Association, and the Ohio Center for the Book.
Floyd’s Pick is a book award developed by the Choose to Read Ohio (CTRO) Advisory Council and presented in memory of children’s literature expert, advocate, and librarian Floyd Dickman. It is given annually to a book written by an Ohio author or a book illustrated by an Ohio illustrator that is representative of high-quality literature created for children. This book will be one that Floyd Dickman would have enthusiastically promoted, and is to carry on the legacy of his work to support and share children’s literature in the State of Ohio.
The OLC’s Teen Services Division created the James Cook Book Award: Celebrating Diversity in Teen Literature in 2007. The award was created in memory of James Cook, a Teen Specialist at Dayton Metro Library, who was well-known in the library community as an advocate for teens, diversity, and teen literature. The award recognizes a book that promotes and celebrates cultural, ethnic, or social diversity. The winning books feature a teen as one of the main characters; demonstrate excellence in writing; promote cultural, ethnic, or social diversity; and have a wide appeal to a teen audience.
The Ohioana Book Awards are the second oldest, and among the most prestigious, state literary prizes in the nation. Nearly every notable Ohio writer of the past 78 years has been honored. The first Ohioana Book Award, presented in 1942, was given in the category of nonfiction to James Reston’s Prelude to Victory. Awards for juvenile literature and fiction were first presented in 1943, followed in 1944 by poetry and “book about Ohio/Ohioan,” and in 2014, middle grade/young adult literature. To these juried awards, a Readers’ Choice Award was added in 2016, allowing readers to choose their favorite book from among the finalists selected by judges.