Eligibility, Guidelines & Fees

Criteria

The David Booth Children’s and Youth Poetry Award honours excellence in children’s and youth poetry. The celebration of diversity is an equally significant element to achieving excellence. A work of excellence in Canadian children’s literature should also be successful in making people feel a sense of belonging in their communities.

• This biennial award honours excellence in youth poetry in the following forms: rhyming board books and picture books, poetry collections, novels in verse.
• Poetry using strong, engaging language that is new and inventive; language that is evocative and evolving, reads well aloud and garners a sense of surprise and delight from the reader.
• Poetry which invites readers to look at things in extraordinary ways; freshness of the idea alters the readers’ vision of the world.
• Poetry which is striking, interesting and original.
• Poetry with a youth-centred focus; it engages the targeted audience.
• Presence of the three Rs: rhythm, read-again quality and risk (i.e., the poet’s words need to stretch the boundaries of language).
• Elements of the story/poem(s) that draw upon or are inspired by real cultures, folklore and history should be done respectfully and authentically.

Rhyming Board Books and Picture Books

• A rhyming board book or picture book that can only be told in verse.
• Picture book rhyme needs to enhance the story; it is not there for rhyme’s sake and it does not detract from the story; language used goes beyond the obvious predictable word choices for rhymes.
• Board book with a richness of rhythm and rhyme that lends itself to being read aloud.
• Picture book that has a continuous narrative.
• Seamless integration of text, illustration and design.

Poetry Collections

• Collections which have a logical arrangement; non-themed collections should also have a sense of cohesion (i.e., a level of flow and interconnectedness between poems).
• “Selected” or “collected” works must contain at least 50% new material, measured in pages of text. This percentage must be identified with the submission.
• Poetry anthologies written by more than one author are not eligible.

Novels in Verse

• A narrative told in poetic form.
• A narrative that can only be written in verse, not prose.
• Poetic form that enriches the story.
• Writing that evokes imagery and emotions.