David Bruce Smith, the co-founder and a judge of the Grateful American™ Book Prize, elaborates on the inaugural year of the Book Prize in a recent interview.

“The purpose is to recognize the single best children’s book in the genres of historical fiction/non-fiction that is written for the 7th-9th grade levels. Interestingly this is the only prize of its kind at the moment. Usually, prizes such as this weigh only the quality of the prose, and ignore the illustrations. This prize will consider both–if possible. That ideal “marriage” will depend on the submissions, because I have discovered older fiction has less or no illustrations. There will only be one winner.”

Read the entire interview to learn more about the Grateful American™ Book Prize.