Eliot Rosewater Books
Teachers and media specialists in Indiana want to promote reading for fun, and that’s why the Eliot Rosewater program was first started. There are lots of other awards for books that are voted on by experts in literature, such as the Newberry Medal for children’s books, Best Books for Young Adults sponsored by the American Library Association and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Now Indiana’s high school students have their very own book awards program called the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award. (It’s named after a character in some of Kurt Vonnegut’s novels.) The award is named after an Indiana author as a way of honoring all Hoosier authors. The name of the award is often shortened to just “Rosie Award.”
Each year books are nominated for the award by a committee which includes high school students, media specialists and English teachers. Approximately 20 books are selected. Students participating in this program will read five of the twenty books that have been nominated for this award. Those students who have read more than one of the books may vote for their favorite in April. The votes are sent to Indianapolis where all of the votes from across the state of Indiana are tallied and the winner is then announced.