Astrid Lindgren Award Committee

2024 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Nominees

The ChLA Astrid Lindgren Committee was formed in 2006 and is charged with overseeing the Association’s nominations for the international Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), administered by the Swedish Arts Council, is the world’s largest prize for children’s and young people’s literature. The annual prize totals SEK 5 million (equivalent to approx. USD 578,000, 445,000 EUR).

This award was established in 2002 by the Swedish government to honor author Astrid Lindgren (who died in 2002 at the age of 94) and to promote children’s literature around the world. ALMA aims to strengthen and increase interest in children’s and young people’s literature and promote children’s rights at the global level. An expert jury names a prize winner from the candidates who have been nominated by institutions and organizations worldwide.

The 2016 award winner is Meg Rosoff. Previous award winners are PRAESA (2015), Barbro Lindgren (2014), Isol (2013), Guus Kuijer (2012), Shaun Tan (2011), Kitty Crowther (2010), Tamer Institute for Community Education (2009), Sonya Hartnett (2008), Banco del Libro (2007), Katherine Paterson (2006), Philip Pullman (2005), Ryôji Arai (2005), Lygia Bojunga (2004), Christine Nöstlinger (2003), and Maurice Sendak (2003).

The winners are chosen from among nominations from select nominating bodies from around the world, including ChLA. The award(s) is/are announced and presented in May in Sweden. ChLA has participated as a nominating body since 2003. The membership voted just before the 2016 conference to nominate, for the 2018 award, American author Jacqueline Woodson and German author Cornelia Funke.

The Association is allowed to submit two nominees for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award annually: one author or illustrator from the United States and one from another country. ChLA members will be asked in the spring of each year to submit names of potential nominees to the committee for consideration for inclusion on a ballot to be sent to members about a month before the annual ChLA conference.  The selected authors, illustrators, or literacy groups will be ChLA’s official nominees in the next nomination cycle.

For more information about the award, visit www.alma.se/en

Composition of the Committee:

The committee consists of a chair and at least two members, all of whom are appointed by the President for a term of three years.

Committee Members:

Chair: Laura Wasowicz, American Antiquarian Society, 2023-2026
Tanya Radford, Dominican College of Blauvelt, 2021-2024
Sue Corbin, Notre Dame College, 2022-2025

ChLA Board Liaison:

Angel Daniel Matos, Bowdoin College, 2021-2022