Freeman Awards
The Freeman Book Awards are annual awards for new young adult and children's literature, that contribute meaningfully to an understanding of East and Southeast Asia.
About the Awards
In 2016 the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), the Committee on Teaching about Asia (CTA) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), and Asia for Educators (AFE) at Columbia University announced the establishment of the annual Freeman Book Awards for new young adult and children’s literature. The awards recognize quality books for children and young adults that contribute meaningfully to an understanding of East and Southeast Asia. Awards are given in two categories: Children’s and Young Adult on the several countries of East and Southeast Asia. The awards were inaugurated in 2016. They are named for the Freeman Foundation.
The Freeman Foundation was established in 1994 through the bequest and in memory of the businessman and benefactor Mansfield Freeman, a co-founder of the international insurance and financial conglomerate American International Group, Inc., better known as AIG. It is dedicated to "augmenting international understanding between the United States and the nations of East Asia.[1]
Winners and Honorable Mentions 2017[2]
Children's Literature
- Winner: The Crane Girl by Curtis Manley, illustr. by Lin Wang (Shen’s Books) - Fiction, set in Japan
- Honorable Mention: An’s Seed by Zaozao Wang, illustr. by Li Huang, tr. Helen Wang (Candied Plums; Bilingual edition) - Fiction, set in China
- Honorable Mention: Chibi Samurai Wants a Pet by Sanae Ishida (Little Bigfoot) - Fiction, set in Japan
- Honorable Mention: My First Book of Vietnamese Words by Tran Thi Minh Phuoc (Tuttle Publishing; Bilingual edition) - Fiction, set in Vietnam
Young Adult/Middle School Literature
- Winner: Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan, illustr. by Meilo So, tr. Helen Wang (Candlewick Press) - Fiction, set in China
- Honorable Mention: Hotaka: Through My Eyes – Natural Disaster Zones by John Heffernan, edited by Lyn White (Allen & Unwin) - Fiction, set in Japan
- Honorable Mention: Ten: A Soccer Story by Shamini Flint (Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) - Fiction, set in Malaysia
- Honorable Mention: The Emperor’s Riddle by Kat Zhang (Simon & Schuster; Aladdin) - Fiction, set in China
Young Adult/High School Literature
- Winner: The Forbidden Temptation of Baseball by Doris Jones Yang (Spark Press) - Fiction, set in Japan and the U.S.
- Honorable Mention: Want by Cindy Pon (Simon & Schuster; Simon Pulse) - Fiction, set in Taiwan
- Honorable Mention: Tanabata Wish by Sara Fujimura (Wishes Enterprises, LLC) - Fiction, set in Japan
Winners and Honorable Mentions 2016[3]
Children's Literature
- Winner: My Night in the Planetarium by Innosanto Nagara (Seven Stories Press) - Non-Fiction, set in Indonesia
- Honorable Mention: Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko by Misuzu Kaneko (Chin Music Press) - Non-Fiction, set in Japan
Young Adult/Middle School Literature
- Winner: Somewhere Among by Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) - Fiction, set in Japan
- Winner: The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky) - Fiction, set in Japan
- Honorable Mention: Falling into the Dragon’s Mouth by Holly Thompson (Henry Holt BYR/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group) - Fiction, set in Japan
Young Adult/High School Literature
- Winner: Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea by Sungju Lee and Susan Elizabeth McClelland (Amulet, an imprint of ABRAMS) - Non-Fiction, set in North Korea
- Honorable Mention: Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story by Caren Stelson (Carolrhoda Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group) - Non-Fiction, set in Japan