South Carolina Book Awards

The purpose of the South Carolina Book Award Program is to encourage our students to read quality contemporary literature and submit their vote to select the recipients of the annual awards. The book award medals will be awarded to the winning authors the following year at the South Carolina Association of School Librarians annual conference.

South Carolina Book Awards History

The original South Carolina book award program began in 1976 with the participation of sixteen schools.  At the present time, there are approximately five hundred schools and more than 60,000 students presently participating in the program.

The original book award program was a children’s division for students in grades 3-6. Additional levels were gradually added, and with the inclusion of the Picture Book category in 2003, all students in grades 4K-12 can now participate.

Since the inception of the South Carolina Book Award program, SCASL members have provided leadership and volunteered many hours of service to make the program a success. Some highlights of the Book Award program are:

1976 – Children’s division begun – Edna Bedenbaugh, Chair
1980 – Young Adult division added – Sue Harden, Chair
1980 – First Executive Board Representative elected – Alleene Holland
1980 – Banners Program added – Debbie Stone and Alleene Holland, Co-chairs
1993 – Junior division added – Jan Sarratt, Chair
2003 – Picture Book division added – Joyce Moore, Chair
2015 - Book Trailer Program added - Pat Wilcox, Chair
2017 - Bookmark Program added - Aleisha Ainsworth, Chair

Previous Book Award Winner History

Notice: All media specialists should review all titles and add them to their collection only if the titles meet the criteria established by District Board Policy and Library Media Center Policy & Procedure guidelines. We recommend that others interested in purchasing these titles read reviews and scan materials to determine the appropriateness for their intended reader.