Kent State Professor to Host American Library Association Youth Media Awards on Jan. 28

Carolyn Brodie, Ph.D., associate professor in Kent State University’s School of Library and Information Sciences, will serve as emcee for the 2013 American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards. The event takes place Monday, Jan. 28, at 8 a.m. Pacific Time (11 a.m. Eastern time) in the Washington State Convention Center.

Brodie is president of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association.  The ALSC is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. ALSC’s network includes more than 4,200 children’s and youth librarians, children’s literature experts, publishers, education and library school faculty members, and other adults dedicated to creating a better future for children through libraries.

More than 1,300 onsite audience members and an unlimited number of virtual participants will join a webcast to see the recipients of  top honors among children’s and young adult authors and illustrators, as well as producers of children’s audio and video materials.

Among the 19 awards presented at the Youth Media Awards program are the prestigious Caldecott Medal (75th anniversary), which honors the illustrator of the year's most distinguished American picture book for children; Coretta Scott King Book Award for African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults that communicate the African American experience; John Newbery Medal, honoring the author of the year's most outstanding contribution to children's literature; Michael L. Printz Award for the best book written for young adults; Pura Belpré Award, honoring Latino writers and illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for youth; and the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, for both the author(s) and illustrator(s) of an outstanding book for beginning readers.

You can follow along in real time by logging in to the ALA Youth Media Awards Facebook page or via Twitter by following #ALAyma. 

For more information, visit the ALA Youth Media Awards page atwww.ala.org/news/mediapresscenter/presskits/youthmediaawards/alayouthme…. The site includes 12 video presentations titled ALA Youth Media Awards in Motion, which are clips from past award announcements and events.