NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature

The NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature is an international children's literary award founded in 2003 and given every odd-number year by World Literature Today.

Nancy Barcelo, Kathy Neustadt, and Susan Neustadt Schwartz, the daughters of Walter Jr. and Dolores Neustadt and the granddaughters of Walter Sr. and Doris Westheimer Neustadt, established the prize to “enhance the quality of children's literature by recognizing writing that contributes to the quality of children's lives.”[2][3] It is one of few children's literature awards that is awarded for an author's entire body of work—the main criterion is the positive impact of a writer's work on the quality of children's literature and only living writers are eligible.

To distinguish the prize from others such as the Newbery, Caldecott, and Hans Christian Andersen awards, the Neustadts decided there would be no limitations concerning age-range, genre, or media of the children's literature under consideration.

The winner receives a check for $35,000, a silver medallion, and a certificate, in a public ceremony at the University of Oklahoma.

[5] To date, the winners of the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature include:

(From left to right) Susan Neustadt Schwartz, Kathy Neustadt, author Nii Parkes , and Nancy Barcelo in 2015. The first initials of sisters Nancy, Susan, and Kathy make up the NSK of the prize name. [ 1 ]