DLA

Blue Hen Book Award

2026 Ben Hen Book Award Voting – Blue Hen Book Award voting for the 2026 winners is open now! Make sure your library is promoting reading and voting to your patrons. Deadline for voting is October 31, and votes can be submitted via Google Form or paper ballot! To vote, please visit the Blue Hen Book Award Guide.

The purpose of the Blue Hen Book Award is to encourage literacy and library use by children and teens.

Specific Goals:

• to encourage children and teens to read.
• to teach, increase, and enhance book examination skills using an award procedure as a model.
• to increase awareness of outstanding books for children and teens published within a given period of time.
• to increase and enhance listening, discussion and communication skills.
• to promote a better understanding of the book award process.

History:

• 1996: The award was first given to Harvey Potter’s Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen. A state-wide contest was held prior to this asking juvenile library patrons to design a logo for the Blue Hen Book Award. The design was created by Aaron Powell, a 12 year old South Coastal patron.
• 1998: No award given, as procedures surrounding the award were changing.
• 2001: The award expanded to 2 categories: Picture Book and Chapter Book.
• 2002: Logo/sticker redesign. This new design started being used with the 2003 award.
• 2005: The award expanded to a third category: Teen Books
• 2013: No award given, as the procedures went through another adjustment.
• 2019: The award categories expanded once again to the current configuration and now includes graphic novels for middle readers and teens. The names of the categories also changed to reflect the age/grade of the reader as opposed to the format of the material.

Nominations & Review:
January 1-December 31

• Library staff submit nominations to Youth Services listserv for Selection Committees to review.
• Members of the public, authors, and publishers can submit nominees to a library staff member or the YSD Executive Board (DelawareYSD@gmail.com) for consideration and confirmation of eligibility.

In order to be considered, nominees must fit the following guidelines:

• • Nominees must be published in the current year; plus the two previous years (i.e., publication dates for this year’s nominees are 2023-2025).
  • Nominees must have at least two professional reviews from library sources (either print or electronic) such as Booklist, Library Journal, BookPage, School Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly etc., except for Graphic Novels.
  • Nominees can be part of a series but must be the first book in the series or be able to stand alone.
  • Nominees must be owned by at least one public library in Delaware Library Consortium.
  • Acceptable nomination formats include fiction, non-fiction, picture book, biography, beginning reader, and graphic novel.
  • Ineligible formats include board books, single-issue comics, and magazines.
• February 28: Selection Committee members’ ratings due for all books nominated for their category in the previous year
• April 1-October 31: Public voting period