The shortlists for the 2018 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards were announced today. The Schwartz Awards are the only Canadian literary award where student jurors work together to choose the winning books.

The 2018 winners will be decided by two student juries from Toronto’s Sprucecourt Public School. The winners will be announced during a school assembly on Wednesday, June 20.

Children’s Picture Book Award Category		Young Adult / Middle Reader Award Category
Away by Emil Sher (Toronto, Ont.) illustrations by Qin Leng (Toronto, Ont.) Groundwood Books		The Agony of Bun O’Keefe by Heather Smith (Waterloo, Ont. Penguin Teen
The Heart’s Song by Gilles Tibo (Montréal, Que.) illustrations by Irene Luxbacher (Toronto, Ont.) North Winds Press		Everything Beautiful Is Not Ruined by Danielle Younge-Ullman (Toronto, Ont.) Razorbill Canada
My Beautiful Birds by Suzanne Del Rizzo (Oakville, Ont.) Pajama Press		Louis Undercover by Fanny Britt (Montréal, Que.) illustrations by Isabelle Arsenault (Montréal, Que.) Groundwood Books
Stolen Words by Melanie Florence (Toronto, Ont.) illustrations by Gabrielle Grimard (Montréal, Que.) Second Story Press		The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (Toronto, Ont.) DCB
Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz (Toronto, Ont.) illustrations by Sydney Smith (Toronto, Ont.) Groundwood Books		Sit by Deborah Ellis (Simcoe, Ont.) Groundwood Books

About the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards

• Two awards of $6,000 each are presented annually to recognize artistic excellence in writing and illustration in English-language Canadian children’s literature.
• The winners are selected by two juries of young readers, which this year are students at Sprucecourt Public School in Toronto.
  • Five students in grades 3 and 4 will select the recipient(s) of the Children’s Picture Book Award.
  • Five students in grades 7 and 8 will select the recipient of the Young Adult / Middle Reader Award.

Find out more about the Ruth and Sylvia Schwarts Children’s Book Awards here.