First awarded by SLMSSENY in 1980, the Rip Van Winkle award is presented each year to an author or illustrator who resides in our region for outstanding contributions to the world of children’s literature.

Rip Van Winkle Award Criteria

The RVW Award shall be awarded every year to an author or illustrator who resides in the seven-county region and has, over a period of years, made a significant contribution to literature for young people.

The spirit of the award is to recognize an author/illustrator from the SLMSSENY region for a body of work. As such, the following criteria will be used to determine the awardee:

• Must live within the 7 county region: Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Westchester, Putnam, Sullivan, Rockland

• The author’s/illustrators body of work should include well reviewed books for children/young adults

• The author’s/illustrators body of work should have lasting relevance to young people

• The author/illustrator has been consistently recommended as an outstanding contributor to the field of literature by school librarians

If you would like to nominate a future recipient, please use the this form: https://forms.gle/d4PiXfhFxMGshZt67