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Winners of the 2023 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards announced

The winners of the 2023 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards were revealed on May 26. Each of the winners receives $6,000 for “artistic excellence in writing and illustration in English-language Canadian children’s literature.”

Two juries comprised of young readers from Jesse Ketchum Junior and Senior Public School in Toronto selected the winners.

The winner in the children’s picture book category was This is the Boat that Ben Built by Jen Lynn Bailey and Maggie Zeng, ill. (Pajama Press).

“We really liked the colourful detailed pictures and the way the story built up,” said the student jurors in the press release. “And most importantly, we liked the way that the story showed how animals and the environment impact each other.”

In the young adult/middle reader category the winner was Road of the Lost by Nafiza Azad (Margaret K. McElderry Books / Simon & Schuster).

“I am honestly over the moon,” said Azad in the release. “To think the book reached the people it was written for and left them touched in some profound way … What more can any writer hope for?”

The winners were chosen from shortlists announced earlier this year.

The Ontario Arts Foundation, with the support of the Ontario Arts Council, administers the awards.