UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson, 2022 winners of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, will receive the national children’s poetry honor at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Mar. 29 in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library on Penn State’s University Park campus.
During the award presentation, Watson will appear live — with Hannah-Jones joining the conversation via Zoom — to speak about their writing and read from their winning selection, “The 1619 Project; Born on the Water,” illustrated by Nikkolas Smith and published by Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group.
“The book is a series of lyrical poems that skillfully combine to provide a powerful historical narrative and an origin story important to today’s youth and to American history,” the book’s publisher wrote.
Co-sponsored by Penn State University Libraries and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, the event will be hosted by Jury Chair Lynn Rutan, who will introduce the jury and lead the discussion between Pulitzer Prize-winning, investigative journalist Hannah-Jones and bestselling author, educator and activist Watson. The authors will be presented with commemorative plaques and $1,000 prize during the event, followed by a Q&A session and book signing.
Livestreaming will not be available for the in-person presentation in Foster Auditorium, however, an event recording will be viewable by mid-April on the 2022 Lee Bennett Hopkins Award page.
The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award is named for the internationally renowned educator, poet, anthologist and passionate advocate of poetry for young people. Established in 1993, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award was the first award of its kind in the United States. The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Penn State University Libraries, and Lee Bennett Hopkins share joint administration of the annual award, which was established in 1993. The winner of the award is selected each year by a panel of authors, librarians, teachers and scholars.
The 2022 judges for the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award are chair Lynn Rutan, reviewer/blogger, retired school librarian, Holland, Michigan; Korey Erickson, library coordinator, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Jason J. Griffith, assistant professor of education at Penn State, University Park, Pennsylvania; Kathleen Kuo, program manager, Nevada Humanities, Las Vegas, Nevada; and John Micklos Jr., author, Newark, Delaware.
The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book established in 1977 at the Library of Congress, encourages Pennsylvania’s citizens and residents to study, honor, celebrate and promote books, reading, libraries and literacy. In addition to the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, it also administers the Public Poetry Project, the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, Poems from Life, A Baker’s Dozen: The Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy, the Wordstruck: Micro Essay contest, and the interactive Literary & Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania.
For additional information about the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, including questions about accommodation at the Mar. 29 award presentation, contact Caroline Wermuth at cvw1@psu.edu or 814-863-5472, or visit the Pennsylvania Center for the Book website.