A total of 862 entries were received from authors and publishers in 45 U.S. states, 6 Canadian provinces, and 7 countries overseas, all hoping to nab a Moonbeam Award. At the ceremony on November 3, held in Chicago’s Harold Washington Public Library, the lucky 118 winners participated in a fantastic evening of celebrating reading and storytelling, called “Bookstalk.” What a Great event!!!!

Calling both veteran and aspiring children’s authors! The Second Annual Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, presented by Jenkins Publishing Group, are now underway. Jenkins is looking for unique and inspiring stories for our youth living in today’s society. If you feel as though you are up to this challenge, apply online at

www.moonbeamawards.com. The Early Bird deadline is June 15, 2008 and the final deadline is August 16, 2008.

Our Friendship Rules, written by Peggy Moss and Dee Dee Tardif, is a gold medal winner in the 2007 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards in the Picture Book for All Ages division. Peggy is a former hate- violence prosecutor and Dee Dee, her inspiration and subject of study, is a ninth grade student. This book is about a friendship broken by betrayal and the code of conduct that accompanies all substantial relationships.   

 Peggy Moss

 http://books.google.com/books

Dear Mr. Jenkins and staff: 

Thank you for honoring me with the Moonbeam Children’s Book Silver Medal in the Multicultural Fiction Category for my book Shadows on Society Hill, an American Girl, Addy Mystery. I will cherish it always. 

I would like to thank your Book Awards Assistant, Amy Shamroe, and anyone else on your staff directly working with the Moonbeam Awards, because I suspect it was a daunting task to handle so many books. I do appreciate their work.

  I love the work you do to encourage writers as well as readers. I especially appreciated that you had such knowledgeable judges for your award. It makes the honor all the more special. I wrote to the Kohl Education Foundation to thank them as well.  

Please forgive the formality of a computerized letter, but my handwriting is difficult to read. And there is nothing more ironic than to be “thanked” and you have no idea what I’m writing. 

Again, thank you. The medal is lovely by the way. It has inspired me to continue writing for children for a few more years. This is such a rough business I am always threatening to quit and then an award comes along that says, not only do we recognize your work, we’re proud of it. I am sure your newly founded Moonbeam Awards lifted many spirits. 

With warmest friendship,  

Evelyn Coleman,  Author of Shadows on Society Hill  

 http://www.evelyncoleman.com/childhome1.htm

Soul Sunday, a novel by Carrie Brown-Wolf, has won the gold medal in the Moonbeam Peacemaker Category. This book is a family guide for teaching children about faith and tolerance.

http://www.soulsunday.org/awards.html

This truly moving and inspirational story of a young girl struggling with the illness of her mother and the need for independence, won over the hearts of our judges to become a Moonbeam winner. 

http://sherylmcfarlane.ca/ya/paint.html

The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd- Jones, I Will Rejoice by Karma Wilson, and I Was an Eighth Grade Ninja by Andrew Simmons and Rob Corley are three of the outstanding award-winners that have upped the ante for all Moonbeam applicants.

 http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/NewsRoom/NewsReleases/Zonderkidz+Titles+Win+Moonbeam+Awards.htm?