The Children's Literature Lecture Award (known as the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture from 1970-2020), is an annual event sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association.
[1] Arbuthnot was one creator of "Dick and Jane" readers and she wrote the first three editions of Children and Books (Scott, Foresman 1947, 1957, 1964).
When informed of the new honorary lecture in her name, 'she recalled "that long stretch of years when I was dashing from one end of the country to the other, bringing children and books together by way of the spoken word.
[2] The lecturer may be an "author, critic, librarian, historian, or teacher of children's literature, of any country".
The Children's Literature Lecture Award Committee selects one from a list of nominations, a process currently completed in January 15 to 18 months before the event.