The Golden Kite Awards are given annually by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, an international children's writing organization, to recognize excellence in children’s literature. The award is a golden medallion showing a child flying a kite. Instituted in 1973, the Golden Kite Awards are the only children’s literary award judged by a jury of peers. Eligible books must be written or illustrated by SCBWI members, and submitted either by publishers or individuals.[1]
The award currently recognizes literature in seven categories: "Young Reader and Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Nonfiction Text for Young Readers, Nonfiction text for Older Readers, Picture Book Text,Picture Book Illustration, and Illustration for Older Readers."
Winners are chosen by a panel of judges consisting of children’s book writers and illustrators. In addition to the Golden Kite Award winners, honor book recipients are named by the judges. Since 2006, each category's winner wins a $2,500 grant cash prize, as well as $1,000 to donate to their chosen non-profit organization. Honor winners receive $500, as well as $250 to donate.
Since 2003, the Sid Fleischman Award for excellence in humorous writing is given in conjunction with the Golden Kite Awards.[2]
In the following table, the year represents the year the awards were given, which is the year following publication. For example, the 2000 awards are for books published in 1999.
| 1974 | Summer of My German Soldier | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | ||||
| 1976 | ||||
| 1977 | One More Flight | |||
| 1978 | Fiction | |||
| Nonfiction | Peeper, First Voice of Spring | |||
| 1979 | Fiction | And You Give Me a Pain, Elaine | ||
| Nonfiction | How I Came to Be a Writer | |||
| 1980 | Fiction | |||
| Nonfiction | Runaway Teens | |||
| 1981 | Fiction | Arthur, For the Very First Time | ||
| Nonfiction | ||||
| 1982 | Fiction | Little, Little | ||
| Nonfiction | Blissymbolics | |||
| 1983 | Fiction | Ralph S. Mouse | ||
| Nonfiction | Chimney Sweeps | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | Giorgio's Village | |||
| 1984 | Fiction | |||
| Nonfiction | ||||
| Picture Book Illustration | Little Red Riding Hood | |||
| 1985 | Fiction | Tancy | ||
| Nonfiction | Walls: Defenses Throughout History | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | ||||
| 1986 | Fiction | Sarah, Plain and Tall | ||
| Nonfiction | Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | ||||
| 1987 | Fiction | After the Dancing Days | ||
| Nonfiction | Poverty in America | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | Alphabetics | |||
| 1988 | Fiction | Rabble Starkey | ||
| Nonfiction | Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | ||||
| 1989 | Fiction | Borrowed Children | ||
| Nonfiction | Let There Be Light | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | Forest of Dreams | |||
| 1990 | Fiction | Jenny of the Tetons | ||
| Nonfiction | Panama Canal: Gateway to the World | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | Tom Thumb | |||
| 1991 | Fiction | Avi | ||
| Nonfiction | ||||
| Picture Book Illustration | Home Place | |||
| 1992 | Fiction | |||
| Nonfiction | ||||
| Picture Book Illustration | Mama Do You Love Me? | |||
| 1993 | Fiction | Letters From a Slave Girl | ||
| Nonfiction | ||||
| Picture Book Illustration | Chicken Sunday | |||
| 1994 | Fiction | Make Lemonade | ||
| Nonfiction | Eleanor Roosevelt | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | By the Light of the Halloween Moon | |||
| 1995 | Fiction | Catherine, Called Birdy | ||
| Nonfiction | Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | Big Fat Hen | |||
| 1996 | Fiction | |||
| Nonfiction | Abigail Adams | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | and Lauren Mills | Fairy Wings | ||
| 1997 | Fiction | |||
| Nonfiction | ||||
| Picture Book Illustration | Market Day | |||
| Picture Book Text | Saving Sweetness | |||
| 1998 | Fiction | Stones in Water | ||
| Nonfiction | Carmine's Story: A Book About a Boy Living with AIDS | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | ||||
| Picture Book Text | ||||
| 1999 | Fiction | Rules of the Road | ||
| Nonfiction | Martha Graham: A Dancer's Life | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | Snow | |||
| Picture Book Text | Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems | |||
| 2000 | Fiction | Speak | ||
| Nonfiction | Space Station Science: Life in Free Fall | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | ||||
| Picture Book Text | ||||
| 2001[3] | Fiction | |||
| Nonfiction | Darkness over Denmark | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | ||||
| Picture Book Text | River Friendly, River Wild | |||
| 2002 | Fiction | True Believer | ||
| Nonfiction | Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | ||||
| Picture Book Text | ||||
| 2003 | Fiction | Fresh Girl | ||
| Nonfiction | This Land was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | Mrs. Biddlebox | |||
| Picture Book Text | George Hogglesberry: Grade School Alien | |||
| Sid Fleischman Humor Award | ||||
| 2004 | Fiction | Milkweed | ||
| Nonfiction | Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | I Dream Of Trains | |||
| Picture Book Text | ||||
| Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Millicent Min, Girl Genius | |||
| 2005 | Fiction | Bucking The Sarge | ||
| Nonfiction | Dust To Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930s | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | ||||
| Picture Book Text | Apples to Oregon | |||
| Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Al Capone Does My Shirts | |||
| 2006[4] | Fiction | |||
| Nonfiction | Children of the Great Depression | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | Baby Bear's Chairs | |||
| Picture Book Text | Doña Flor | |||
| Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Absolutely Positively Not[5] | |||
| 2007[6] | Fiction | Firegirl | ||
| Nonfiction | ||||
| Picture Book Illustration | Not Afraid of Dogs | |||
| Picture Book Text | Jazz | |||
| Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Clementine | |||
| 2008[7] | Fiction | Home of the Brave | ||
| Nonfiction | Muckrackers | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | Little Night | |||
| Picture Book Text | Pierre in Love | |||
| 2009[8] | Fiction | Down Sand Mountain | ||
| Nonfiction | ||||
| Picture Book Illustration | Last Night | |||
| Picture Book Text | ||||
| Sid Fleischman Humor Award | As If Being 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running For President | |||
| 2010[9] [10] | Fiction | Sea of the Dead | ||
| Nonfiction | Words to My Life's Song | |||
| Picture Book Illustration | Gracias Thanks | |||
| Picture Book Text | ||||
| Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have | |||
| 2011 | Fiction | Turtle in Paradise | ||
| Nonfiction |