The Otter Award - Selection Process

Books to be considered must:

Be of appropriate reading level to transitional readers (traditionally identified as reading levels for grades 1-4);
Be published two to three years before the date of the award (for example, books considered for the 2022 award needed to be published in 2019 - 2021);
Be transitional chapter books that include traits that support transitional readers (including, but not limited to: font size, line spacing, white space, and meaningful illustrations, etc.);
Be thoughtful in representation of: genres, genders of authors/characters, diversity of authors/characters, series (starting with book 1, when appropriate);
Be read and positively reviewed by a student (“books kids like, not books that adults think kids should like”)

In addition:

We will accept books from authors of any nationality;
In the case of books first published in another country, eligibility will be determined by the US Publication date;
We will not consider books that are out of print;
We will not consider price when choosing books;
Being part of a series will not disqualify a book from consideration
We will accept nominations from all sources and especially celebrate those coming from students.

Nomination:

Please use this form to nominate selections for the Otter Award.