Too Many Award Groups?

After reading the articles "Slippery Slopes and Proliferating Prizes" by Marc Aronson and "Awards That Stand on Solid Ground" by Andrea Davis Pinkney, we had an interesting discussion in my diverse literature class. We researched awards for Jewish people, Asian/Pacific people, African-American people, Middle Eastern people, GLBT people, and Latino people. I can see Aronson's view that it is a possibility that there will continue to be more and more different categories created until every book falls into a category for an award. But more importantly, I agree with Pinkney when she states " these awards provide a solid ground upon which authors and illustrators of color and the library and publishing community can stand. These awards are a gateway to progress." If the playing field were level, one would think that more authors and illustrators of diversity would be winning the major literary awards as well, instead of only a handful in the 80 year history of the Newberys. If these separate awards get good writers and artists noticed by more of their peers and the community then I say more power to them. If more well written diverse books get children to open a book and take an interest in reading then these books are doing their job; and as future teachers we need to do our jobs to read through these award winning books for possibilities to add to our classroom libraries.

On a different note, my class discussed the fact that we had never heard of a award for American Indians and if one even existed. The award for outstanding American Indian literature was started in October 2006. You can find information at the American Indian Library Association website at www.ailanet.org