How it Works

The Sequoyah Book Awards program encourages the students of Oklahoma to read books of literary quality.

Masterlists are released by the Sequoyah Reading Teams in the spring so that schools and libraries can order the books early.

The new masterlists are ready for promotion in May, and should be promoted from May to the following April.

Students in grades 3-5 who have read or listened to at least three titles from the Children's Masterlist are eligible to vote for the Children's Sequoyah Book Award.

Students in grades 6-8 who have read or listened to at least three titles from the Young Adult Masterlist are eligible to vote for the Young Adult Sequoyah Book Award.

Students vote for a favorite title in April, and ballots should be submitted to the Oklahoma Library Association before April 15 each year.

Winners are announced in May, and the winning authors are invited to award presentations at the Oklahoma Library Association's annual conference the following spring. Students are encouraged to attend the award presentations. Reservation forms can be printed here.

The books on the Sequoyah Masterlists are selected by the Sequoyah Reading Teams. Criteria for selection include: published three years prior to the award date, author lives in the United States, originality, literary quality, interest, appeal, and developmentally appropriate for the designated age level.

The masterlists are not intended to be an automatic recommendation of the books. Since selection policies vary, please apply your specific selection criteria to each title and purchase those titles that best meet the needs of your library or school.

It is not the intention of the committees that every student must read every book on the masterlists.