# Golden Kite Award

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.
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.

## Recipients

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.
Golden Kite Award winners :
| Year | Category | Author | Illustrator | Title |
| 1974 | | Bette Greene | | Summer of My German Soldier |
| 1975 | | Jane Yolen | | The Girl Who Cried Flowers |
| 1976 | | Carol Farley | | The Garden Is Doing Fine |
| 1977 | | Eve Bunting | | One More Flight |
| 1978 | Fiction | Bernice Rabe | | The Girl Who Had No Name |
| 1978 | Nonfiction | Robert McClung | | Peeper, First Voice of Spring |
| 1979 | Fiction | Stella Pevsner | | And You Give Me a Pain, Elaine |
| 1979 | Nonfiction | Phyllis Reynolds Naylor | | How I Came to Be a Writer |
| 1980 | Fiction | C. S. Adler | | The Magic of the Gifts |
| 1980 | Nonfiction | Arnold Madison | | Runaway Teens |
| 1981 | Fiction | Patricia MacLachlan | | Arthur, For the Very First Time |
| 1981 | Nonfiction | Dorothy Hinshaw Patent | | The Lives of Spiders |
| 1982 | Fiction | M. E. Kerr | | Little, Little |
| 1982 | Nonfiction | Elizabeth Helfman | | Blissymbolics |
| 1983 | Fiction | Beverly Cleary | | Ralph S. Mouse |
| 1983 | Nonfiction | James Cross Giblin | | Chimney Sweeps |
| 1983 | Picture Book Illustration | Tomie de Paola | Tomie de Paola | Giorgio's Village |
| 1984 | Fiction | Gloria Skurzynski | | The Tempering |
| 1984 | Nonfiction | Helen Roney Sattler | | The Illustrated Dinosaur Dictionary |
| 1984 | Picture Book Illustration | Trina Schart Hyman | Trina Schart Hyman | Little Red Riding Hood |
| 1985 | Fiction | Belinda Hurmence | | Tancy |
| 1985 | Nonfiction | James Cross Giblin | | Walls: Defenses Throughout History |
| 1985 | Picture Book Illustration | Audrey Wood | Don Wood | The Napping House |
| 1986 | Fiction | Patricia MacLachlan | | Sarah, Plain and Tall |
| 1986 | Nonfiction | Rhoda Blumberg | | Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun |
| 1986 | Picture Book Illustration | Barbara Helen Berger | Barbara Helen Berger | The Donkey's Dream |
| 1987 | Fiction | Margaret Rostkowski | | After the Dancing Days |
| 1987 | Nonfiction | Milton Meltzer | | Poverty in America |
| 1987 | Picture Book Illustration | Suse MacDonald | Suse MacDonald | Alphabetics |
| 1988 | Fiction | Lois Lowry | | Rabble Starkey |
| 1988 | Nonfiction | Rhoda Blumberg | | Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark |
| 1988 | Picture Book Illustration | Valerie Scho Carey | Arnold Lobel | The Devil and Mother Crump |
| 1989 | Fiction | George Ella Lyon | | Borrowed Children |
| 1989 | Nonfiction | James Cross Giblin | | Let There Be Light |
| 1989 | Picture Book Illustration | Rosemary Wells | Susan Jeffers | Forest of Dreams |
| 1990 | Fiction | Kristiana Gregory | | Jenny of the Tetons |
| 1990 | Nonfiction | Judith St. George | | Panama Canal: Gateway to the World |
| 1990 | Picture Book Illustration | Richard Jesse Watson | Richard Jesse Watson | Tom Thumb |
| 1991 | Fiction | Avi | | The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle |
| 1991 | Nonfiction | Jim Murphy | | The Boys' War: Confederate and Union soldiers talk about the Civil War |
| 1991 | Picture Book Illustration | Crescent Dragonwagon | Jerry Pinkney | Home Place |
| 1992 | Fiction | Jean Thesman | | The Rain Catchers |
| 1992 | Nonfiction | Russell Freedman | | The Wright Brothers |
| 1992 | Picture Book Illustration | Barbara M. Joosse | Barbara Lavallee | Mama Do You Love Me? |
| 1993 | Fiction | Mary E. Lyons | | Letters From a Slave Girl |
| 1993 | Nonfiction | Jim Murphy | | The Long Road to Gettysburg |
| 1993 | Picture Book Illustration | Patricia Polacco | Patricia Polacco | Chicken Sunday |
| 1994 | Fiction | Virginia Euwer Wolff | | Make Lemonade |
| 1994 | Nonfiction | Russell Freedman | | Eleanor Roosevelt |
| 1994 | Picture Book Illustration | Caroline Stutson | Kevin Hawkes | By the Light of the Halloween Moon |
| 1995 | Fiction | Karen Cushman | | Catherine, Called Birdy |
| 1995 | Nonfiction | Russell Freedman | | Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor |
| 1995 | Picture Book Illustration | Keith Baker | Keith Baker | Big Fat Hen |
| 1996 | Fiction | Christopher Paul Curtis | | The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 |
| 1996 | Nonfiction | Natalie S. Bober | | Abigail Adams |
| 1996 | Picture Book Illustration | Dennis Nolan and Lauren Mills | | Fairy Wings |
| 1997 | Fiction | Eloise McGraw | | The Moorchild |
| 1997 | Nonfiction | Peg Kehret | | Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio |
| 1997 | Picture Book Illustration | Eve Bunting | Holly Berry | Market Day |
| 1997 | Picture Book Text | Diane Stanley | G. Brian Karas | Saving Sweetness |
| 1998 | Fiction | Donna Jo Napoli | | Stones in Water |
| 1998 | Nonfiction | Arlene Schulman | | Carmine's Story: A Book About a Boy Living with AIDS |
| 1998 | Picture Book Illustration | Marguerite W. Davol | Robert Sabuda | The Paper Dragon |
| 1998 | Picture Book Text | Marguerite W. Davol | Robert Sabuda | The Paper Dragon |
| 1999 | Fiction | Joan Bauer | | Rules of the Road |
| 1999 | Nonfiction | Russell Freedman | | Martha Graham: A Dancer's Life |
| 1999 | Picture Book Illustration | Uri Shulevitz | Uri Shulevitz | Snow |
| 1999 | Picture Book Text | Kristine O'Connell George | Kate Kiesler | Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems |
| 2000 | Fiction | Laurie Halse Anderson | | Speak |
| 2000 | Nonfiction | Marianne J. Dyson | | Space Station Science: Life in Free Fall |
| 2000 | Picture Book Illustration | Philemon Sturges | Amy Wolrod | The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) |
| 2000 | Picture Book Text | Deborah Hopkinson | Raul Colon | A Band of Angels |
| 2001 | Fiction | Kathleen Karr | | The Boxer |
| 2001 | Nonfiction | Ellen Levine | | Darkness over Denmark |
| 2001 | Picture Book Illustration | David Shannon | | The Rain Came Down |
| 2001 | Picture Book Text | Jane Kurtz | | River Friendly, River Wild |
| 2002 | Fiction | Virginia Euwer Wolff | | True Believer |
| 2002 | Nonfiction | Susan Campbell Bartoletti | | Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine |
| 2002 | Picture Book Illustration | Beth Krommes | | The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish |
| 2002 | Picture Book Text | J. Patrick Lewis | Chris Sheban | The Shoe Tree of Chagrin |
| 2003 | Fiction | Jaïra Placide | | Fresh Girl |
| 2003 | Nonfiction | Elizabeth Partridge | | This Land was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie |
| 2003 | Picture Book Illustration | Linda Smith | Marla Frazee | Mrs. Biddlebox |
| 2003 | Picture Book Text | Sarah Wilson | | George Hogglesberry: Grade School Alien |
| 2003 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Sid Fleischman | | |
| 2004 | Fiction | Jerry Spinelli | | Milkweed |
| 2004 | Nonfiction | Robert Byrd | | Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer |
| 2004 | Picture Book Illustration | Angela Johnson | Loren Long | I Dream Of Trains |
| 2004 | Picture Book Text | Amy Timberlake | Adam Rex | The Dirty Cowboy |
| 2004 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Lisa Yee | | Millicent Min, Girl Genius |
| 2005 | Fiction | Christopher Paul Curtis | | Bucking The Sarge |
| 2005 | Nonfiction | Michael L. Cooper | | Dust To Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930s |
| 2005 | Picture Book Illustration | Jean Cassels | Jean Cassels | The Mysterious Collection of Dr. David Harleyson |
| 2005 | Picture Book Text | Deborah Hopkinson | Nancy Carpenter | Apples to Oregon |
| 2005 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Gennifer Choldenko | | Al Capone Does My Shirts |
| 2006 | Fiction | Mary E. Pearson | | A Room on Lorelei Street |
| 2006 | Nonfiction | Russell Freedman | | Children of the Great Depression |
| 2006 | Picture Book Illustration | Jane Yolen | Melissa Sweet | Baby Bear's Chairs |
| 2006 | Picture Book Text | Pat Mora | Raul Colón | Doña Flor |
| 2006 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | David LaRochelle | | Absolutely Positively Not |
| 2007 | Fiction | Tony Abbott | | Firegirl |
| 2007 | Nonfiction | Russell Freedman | | The Adventures of Marco Polo |
| 2007 | Picture Book Illustration | Susanna Pitzer | Larry Day | Not Afraid of Dogs |
| 2007 | Picture Book Text | Walter Dean Myers | Christopher Myers | Jazz |
| 2007 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Sara Pennypacker | | Clementine |
| 2008 | Fiction | Katherine Applegate | Katherine Applegate | Home of the Brave |
| 2008 | Nonfiction | Ann Bausum | Ann Bausum | Muckrackers |
| 2008 | Picture Book Illustration | Yuyi Morales | Yuyi Morales | Little Night |
| 2008 | Picture Book Text | Sara Pennypacker | Petra Mathers | Pierre in Love |
| 2009 | Fiction | Steve Watkins | | Down Sand Mountain |
| 2009 | Nonfiction | Pamela S. Turner | | A Life in the Wild |
| 2009 | Picture Book Illustration | Hyewon Yum | Hyewon Yum | Last Night |
| 2009 | Picture Book Text | Bonny Becker | Kady MacDonald Denton | A Visitor for Bear |
| 2009 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Donna Gephart | | As If Being 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running For President |
| 2010 | Fiction | Julia Durango | | Sea of the Dead |
| 2010 | Nonfiction | Ashley Bryan | | Words to My Life's Song |
| 2010 | Picture Book Illustration | Pat Mora | John Parra | Gracias Thanks |
| 2010 | Picture Book Text | Marion Dane Bauer | Ted Lewin | The Longest Night |
| 2010 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Allen Zadoff | | Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have |
| 2011 | Fiction | Jennifer L. Holm | | Turtle in Paradise |
| 2011 | Nonfiction | Tanya Lee Stone | | |
| 2011 | Picture Book Illustration | Salley Mavor | Salley Mavor | Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes |
| 2011 | Picture Book Text | Rukhsana Khan | Sophie Blackall | Big Red Lollipop |
| 2011 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Alan Silberberg | | Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze |
| 2012 | Fiction | Ruta Sepetys | | Between Shades of Gray |
| 2012 | Nonfiction | Candace Fleming | | Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart |
| 2012 | Picture Book Illustration | Melissa Sweet | Melissa Sweet | Balloons Over Broadway |
| 2012 | Picture Book Text | Kate Messner | Christopher Silas Neal | Over and Under the Snow |
| 2012 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Chris Rylander | | The Fourth Stall |
| 2013 | Fiction | Joanne Rocklin | | The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook |
| 2013 | Nonfiction | Jeri Chase Ferris | | Noah Webster and His Words |
| 2013 | Picture Book Illustration | K.G. Campbell | K.G. Campbell | Lester's Dreadful Sweaters |
| 2013 | Picture Book Text | Mara Rockliff | William Low | Me and Momma and Big John |
| 2013 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Mo Willems | | Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs |
| 2014 | Fiction | Tim Federle | | Better Nate Than Ever |
| 2014 | Nonfiction | David Meissner | | Call of the Klondike |
| 2014 | Picture Book Illustration | Peter Brown | Peter Brown | Mr. Tiger Goes Wild |
| 2014 | Picture Book Text | Pat Zietlow Miller | Anne Wilsdorf | Sophie's Squash |
| 2014 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Bill Konigsberg | | Openly Straight |
| 2015 | Fiction | Deborah Wiles | | Revolution |
| 2015 | Nonfiction | Candace Fleming | | The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia |
| 2015 | Picture Book Illustration | Jen Bryant | Melissa Sweet | The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus |
| 2015 | Picture Book Text | Kristy Dempsey | Floyd Cooper | A Dance Like Starlight: One Ballerina's Dream |
| 2015 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Michelle Knudsen | | Evil Librarian |
| 2016 | Middle Grade Fiction | Kate Hannigan | | The Detective's Assistant |
| 2016 | Nonfiction | Margarita Engle | | Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir |
| 2016 | Picture Book Illustration | Phil Bildner | John Parra | Marvelous Cornelius |
| 2016 | Picture Book Text | Jessixa Bagley | Jessixa Bagley | Boats for Papa |
| 2016 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Molly B. Burnham | Trevor Spencer | Teddy Mars: Almost a World Record Beaker |
| 2016 | Young Adult Fiction | Neal Shusterman | | Challenger Deep |
| 2017 | Middle Grade Fiction | Eugene Yelchin | | The Haunting of Falcon House |
| 2017 | Picture Book Illustration | Stacy Innerst | | The Music in George's Head |
| 2017 | Nonfiction | Russell Freedman | Russell Freedman | We Will Not Be Silent |
| 2017 | Picture Book Text | Lisa Wheeler | Jerry Pinkney | The Christmas Boot |
| 2017 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Chris Grabenstein | | Welcome to Wonderland: Home Sweet Motel |
| 2017 | Young Adult Fiction | Ruta Sepetys | | Salt to the Sea |
| 2018 | Middle Grade Fiction | Jack Cheng | | See You in the Cosmos |
| 2018 | Nonfiction Text for Older Readers | Deborah Heiligman | | Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers |
| 2018 | Nonfiction Text for Younger Readers | Carole Boston Weatherford | | Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library |
| 2018 | Picture Book Illustration | Kenard Pak | Kenard Pak | Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter |
| 2018 | Picture Book Text | Carolyn Crimi | Laurel Molk | There Might Be Lobsters |
| 2018 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Crystal Allen | | The Magnificent Mya Tibb: The Wall of Fame Game |
| 2018 | Young Adult Fiction | Elana K. Arnold | | What Girls Are Made Of |
| 2019 | Middle Grade Fiction | Susan Hood | | Lifeboat 12 |
| 2019 | Nonfiction Text for Older Readers | Elizabeth Partridge | | Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam |
| 2019 | Nonfiction Text for Younger Readers | Barb Rosenstock | | Otis and Will Discover the Deep |
| 2019 | Picture Book Illustration | Carole Lexa Schaefer | Becca Stadtlander | Made by Hand: A Crafts Sampler |
| 2019 | Picture Book Text | Jessie Oliveros | Danda Wulfekotte | The Remember Balloons |
| 2019 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Angela Dominguez | | Stella Diaz Has Something to Say |
| 2019 | Young Adult Fiction | Jane Yolen | | Mapping the Bones |
| 2020 | Nonfiction Text for Older Readers | Deborah Heiligman | | Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of the Children's Ship |
| 2020 | Nonfiction Text for Younger Readers | Elizabeth Rusch | | Mario and the Hole in the Sky: How a Chemist Saved Our Planet |
| 2020 | Picture Book Illustration | Muon Thj Van | Hyewon Yum | Clever Little Witch |
| 2020 | Picture Book Text | Ashley Benham Yazdani | | A Green Place to Be: The Creation of Central Park |
| 2020 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Remy Lai | | Pie in the Sky |
| 2020 | Young Adult Fiction | Julie Berry | | Lovely War |
| 2020 | Young Reader and Middle Grade Fiction | Padma Venkatraman | | The Bridge Home |
| 2021 | Illustrated Book for Older Readers | Uri Shulevitz | | Chance: Escape from the Holocaust: Memories of a Refugee Childhood |
| 2021 | Middle Grade/Young Readers Fiction | Renée Watson | | Ways to Make Sunshine |
| 2021 | Nonfiction Text for Older Readers | Christina Soontornvat | | All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team |
| 2021 | Nonfiction Text for Younger Readers | Don Tate | | William Still and His Freedom Stories |
| 2021 | Picture Book Illustration | Matthew Burgess | Catia Chien | The Bear and the Moon |
| 2021 | Picture Book Text | Tami Charles | Bryan Collier | All Because You Matter |
| 2021 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Donna Barba Higuera | | Lupe Wong Won't Dance |
| 2021 | Young Adult Fiction | Sherri L. Smith | | The Blossom and the Firefly |
| 2022 | Illustrated Book for Older Readers | Rukhsanna Guidroz | Fahmida Azim | Samira Surfs |
| 2022 | Middle Grade Fiction | Rajani LaRocca | | Red, White, and Whole |
| 2022 | Nonfiction Text for Older Readers | Ariel Henley | | A Face for Picasso: Coming of Age with Crouzon Syndrome |
| 2022 | Nonfiction Text for Older Readers | Anton Treuer | | Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask: Young Readers Edition |
| 2022 | Nonfiction Text for Younger Readers | Colleen Paeff | Nancy Carpenter | The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution Problem |
| 2022 | Picture Book Illustration | Stephen Costanza | | King of Ragtime: The Story of Scott Joplin |
| 2022 | Picture Book Text | Joanna Ho | Dung Ho | Eyes That Kiss in the Corners |
| 2022 | Young Adult Fiction | Pamela N. Harris | | When You Look Like Us |
| 2023 | Illustrated Book for Older Readers | Isabel Roxas | | The Adventures of Team Pom: Squid Happens |
| 2023 | Middle Grade Fiction | Michael Leali | | The Civil War of Amos Abernathy |
| 2023 | Nonfiction Text for Older Readers | Tara Lazar | | Absurd Words: A Kids’ Fun and Hilarious Vocabulary Builder for Future Word Nerds |
| 2023 | Nonfiction Text for Younger Readers | Stacy McAnulty | David Litchfield | Our Planet: There’s No Place Like Earth |
| 2023 | Picture Book Illustration | Kyo Maclear | Nathalie Dion | Kumo the Bashful Cloud |
| 2023 | Picture Book Text | Brittany J. Thurman | Anna Cunha | Fly |
| 2023 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Tracy Badua | | Freddie vs. the Family Curse |
| 2023 | Young Adult Fiction | Emily Inouye Huey | | Beneath the Wide Silk Sky |
| 2024 | Illustrated Book for Older Readers | Sharee Miller | Sharee Miller | Curlfriends (New in Town) |
| 2024 | Middle Grade Fiction | Katherine Marsh | | The Lost Year |
| 2024 | Nonfiction Text for Older Readers | Elizabeth Rusch | | The 21: The True Story of the Youth Who Sued the U.S. Government Over Climate Change |
| 2024 | Nonfiction Text for Younger Readers | Michelle Markel | Barbara McClintock | Tomfoolery: Randolph Caldecott and the Rambunctious Coming-of-Age of Children's Books |
| 2024 | Picture Book Illustration | Vashti Harrison | Vashti Harrison | Big |
| 2024 | Picture Book Text | Anne Wynter | Daniel Miyares | Nell Plants a Tree |
| 2024 | Sid Fleischman Humor Award | Martha Brockenbrough | | To Catch a Thief |
| 2024 | Young Adult Fiction | Elana K. Arnold | | The Blood Years |