Selection Criteria

Rhode Island Children Book Award Nominees are selected according to the following criteria:

1.) Titles nominated should be appropriate for grades 3-6.

2.) Fiction and nonfiction titles published between 2014-2015 are eligible for the 2016 list.*

3.) Nominee titles must currently be in print.

4.) A title listed once may not be nominated again.

5.) Only one title per author may be nominated in a given year.

6.) Author must be currently living in the United States at the time of nomination.

7.) The winning author will be excluded from nomination the following year.

8.) All books nominated should have literary value and child appeal.

9.) Editors of collected works will not be considered.

10.) New adaptations of books previously published will not be considered. (e.g. new graphic novel version of a book)

11.) Series books, sequels, and prequels will be considered as long as they can be enjoyed as a standalone books by child readers and do not depend on other books within the series to understand the plot, characters or setting.

12.) The final list should be diverse, so a variety of books should be sought for consideration.

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*A note about the publication dates for books on the 2015 nominee list:

a.) The RICBA committee read, reviewed, and selected books for the 2015 nominee list in the Fall of 2013 (September 2013 - February 2014).
b.) Since books in January and February of 2014 were not widely available in time to be considered, the committee primarily read books published in 2013.
c.) The committee can consider books published over a two year time span, so some books published in 2012 were also selected for the list.