Every year, the Pura Belpré award is presented to a Latino/Latina author and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.

Established in 1996, the award is named after a pioneer in Latino librarianship, Pura Belpré, who revolutionized the role of Latinos and minorities in the library field as well as made great strides amongst the Puerto Rican community through her own writing and storytelling.

The most prestigious award for Latino Children’s Literature, the Pura Belpré is co-sponsored by the Association of Library Services to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA affiliate.

This year, the Pura Belpré awards were announced during the ALA Midwinter conference in Chicago, IL.

Winners of the Belpré Medal are:

“Viva Frida,” illustrated by Yuyi Morales, is the Belpré Illustrator Award winner. The book was written by Yuyi Morales and published by Roaring Brook Press, a Neal Porter Book.

Morales, born in Mexico, also received the Caldecott Honor for 2015 for Viva Frida. In this work, she paints her landscape beautifully with her stunning multi-media art.

"I Lived on Butterfly Hill" is the 2015 Pura Belpré (Author) Award winner. The book is written by Marjorie Agosín, illustrated by Lee White and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

Agosín is a Chilean-American writer and professor of Spanish language and literature at Wellesley College. She tells the story of a young girl in Valparaíso, Chile during the military dictatorship.

Three Belpré Illustrator Honor Books were named:

• “Little Roja Riding Hood,” illustrated by Susan Guevara, written by Susan Middleton Elya, and published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

• “Green Is a Chile Pepper,” illustrated by John Parra, written by Roseanne Greenfield Thong, and published by Chronicle Books LLC.

• “Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation,” illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh, and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS.

• One Belpré Author Honor Book was named:

• "Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes," written by Juan Felipe Herrera, illustrated by Raúl Colón and published by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

For more information on the Pura Belpré award, click here.

Established in 1971, REFORMA has actively sought to promote the development of library collections to include Spanish-language and Latino oriented materials; the recruitment of more bilingual and bicultural library professionals and support staff; the development of library services and programs that meet the needs of the Latino community; the establishment of a national information and support network among individuals who share our goals; the education of the U.S. Latino population in regards to the availability and types of library services; and lobbying efforts to preserve existing library resource centers serving the interests of Latinos. For more information on REFORMA, visit www.reforma.org.

REFORMA anuncia los ganadores del Premio Pura Belpré 2015, que premia de literatura infantil hispana.