LEE BENNETT HOPKINS POETRY AWARD CRITERIA

Terms

The national Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Children’s Poetry shall be granted annually to an anthology of poetry or a single volume poem published for children in the previous calendar year (as per copyright) by a living American poet or anthologist. The Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Children’s Poetry shall be administered by The Pennsylvania Center for the Book and Penn State University Libraries.

Definitions

Poet: A poet is, in the narrowest sense, a maker of verses. A poet is also imaginative in thought, expressive in language, and graceful in form.

Anthologist: An anthologist, although often a poet as well, is a selector and compiler of poems.

Poetry: Poetry both predates and transcends the written word. It is the rhythmic expression of imaginative thoughts about our world and its people.

Children: Children are 0 through 14 years old.

Anthology: An anthology is a collection of poems usually by various authors.

Single Author Collection of Poems: A single author volume of poetry or a book length poem is a contained unit, where the poem or collection of poems expresses the thoughts of a single author.

Criteria

Good poetry is imaginative. It deals with emotion and has significance beyond the act of creation. It uses figurative language, yet is compact in thought and expression. Good poetry has an element of beauty and truth which appears unstable outside of the poem. The book which wins the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Children’s Poetry must be accessible to children and its presentation must serve the poem or poems in an attractive and appropriate manner.

Published in the previous calendar year (as per copyright) refers to poems newly published in the previous year or previously published poetry collected and published in a newly released anthology. Reissued single volumes or anthologies will be considered for the award if the content and design have been significantly altered from the original publication.