The NCTE Charlotte Huck Award® for Outstanding Fiction for Children was established in 2014 to promote and recognize excellence in the writing of fiction for children. This award recognizes fiction that has the potential to transform children’s lives by inviting compassion, imagination, and wonder.
Congratulations to the 2026 Winner
A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez
Written by María Dolores Águila
(Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan)
A community coalesces to fight segregation.
Honor Books
Recommended Books
Award Details
Nomination Deadline: September 15, 2026 [Please note: this deadline was changed in 2026 to reflect an earlier date.]
The NCTE Charlotte Huck Award® for Outstanding Fiction for Children commemorates the work of educator Charlotte Huck, who led children’s literature studies at The Ohio State University from the mid-1950s to 1986, championing the classroom use of storybooks to teach reading and language arts. She was the author of five editions of the textbook Children’s Literature in the Classroom. Huck died in 2005.
Members of the Charlotte Huck Award® Committee select the award recipient and up to five Honor books annually. Up to eight Recommended books are also selected.
Learn more about the Committee and apply to be a member.
Books must have been published or distributed in the United States or its territories during the preceding year. Please see submission information for details on how to submit books published October through December of the calendar year. Any fictional text with exemplary literary quality of text and illustrations may be nominated. In addition, the books should connect children to their own humanity and offer them a rich experience with the power to influence their lives and stretch their thinking, feelings, and imagination.
The following are ineligible: adaptations of adult texts, translated books, and book reissues.
The Award shall be given to fiction for children that has the potential to transform children’s lives, including the following qualities:
• Fiction that invites compassion, imagination, and wonder
• Fiction that connects children to their own humanity and offers them a rich experience with the power to influence their lives
• Fiction that stretches children’s thinking, feelings, and imagination
• Fiction that exhibits literary quality of text and illustrations
• Fiction that was published in the United States or its territories during the previous calendar year
• Fiction for whom the primary audience is children, from preschool (age three) to age twelve
The award is presented annually by the Charlotte Huck Award® Committee at the Children’s Book Awards Luncheon during the NCTE Annual Convention.
The award-winning author and/or illustrator receives a plaque and is the featured keynote speaker at the Luncheon in the year following the announcement.
The Honor book author(s) and/or illustrator(s) are recognized at the Children’s Book Awards Luncheon the year following the announcement, receive a certificate, and may be invited to present at related NCTE Children’s Book Awards sessions.
The Recommended book author(s) and/or illustrator(s) are recognized at the Children’s Book Awards Luncheon the year following the announcement and may be invited to present at related NCTE Children’s Book Awards sessions.
Nominations must be submitted to the Award Committee by September 15, 2026. Please note this deadline has been updated in 2026.
We request early submission whenever possible to give the committee enough time to review all submissions. One copy of each nominated book should be sent to the committee members for examination. Digital copies are welcome and can be emailed directly to the committee members. Advance copies or galley proofs are acceptable and encouraged, especially for books published in September and October due to their proximity to the deadline. Hard copies are still requested in addition to the digital versions so that the committee can fully evaluate each work. Books published October through December have the option to be considered for the next Award cycle instead if an advanced copy is not available. Publishers should contact NCTE as soon as possible to confirm submission details.
NCTE members: Nominate using the submission form on the Children’s Book Award homepage.
Nonmembers: Contact bookawards@ncte.org with the title(s), author(s), and publication date(s) of the books you are nominating, as well as the award for which you would like to be considered. We will work with you on next steps. No other forms are required.
Charlotte Huck Award® seals are available to accompany winning books and their future printings. The seals serve to endorse the excellence of the books and distinguish them from among the thousands of books published each year.
Complimentary digital seals are available to the winning authors and their publishers. These are available in color or black and white. Please contact Sarah Miller, bookawards@ncte.org, to make this request.
Physical sticker seals can be purchased in our webstore. They are available in gold for winning books, silver for Honor books, and bronze for Recommended books.
Many of the Charlotte Huck Award® Winner, Honor, and Recommended books are available in one place on Bookshop.org at NCTE’s shop. (NCTE and independent bookstores receive a commission for purchases made through this link.)