CMIS Evaluation Fiction Focus

It’s an interesting award, the Phoenix. Its aim is to celebrate a title that missed out on a major prize when it was first published, but with the hindsight of twenty years is reconsidered.

The award is given by the US Children’s Literature Association (ChLA) and named after ‘the fabled bird that rose from its ashes with renewed life and beauty. Phoenix books also rise from the ashes of neglect and obscurity and once again touch the imaginations and enrich the lives of those who read them.’

In 1989, Francesca Lia Block published WeetzieBat. She has just been announced as the winner of the 2009 Phoenix Award for this overlooked title. In 2007, Margaret Mahy received the award for Memory (published 1987) and in 2008, Peter Dickinson for Eva (1988).

A list of some past winners and their acceptance speeches can be found on the Children’s Literature Association wiki. Others can be found on the Phoenix Papers section of the ChLA website, although this is a work in progress and not all links are working.