The Women’s National Book Association has announced the winners of its 2018 Pannell Awards, given annually to two bookstores that enhance their communities by fostering a love of reading. The award is co-sponsored by Penguin Young Readers Group.
The winner in the General Bookstore category is Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The award jury praised the store’s “passionate staff and year-round schedule of creative programs and events.”
The winner in the Children’s Specialty Bookstore category is Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minn., in recognition of “its outstanding service to authors, children, and the community.”
This year’s winners were chosen by a committee of publishing professionals, including Brenda Bowen, literary agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates; Susan Katz Radin, publisher emeritus at HarperCollins Children’s Books; Emily Romero, senior v-p of marketing at Penguin Young Readers; Roger Sutton, editor-in-chief at the Horn Book; and Lisa Von Drasek, curator of Children’s Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota. The award committee co-chairs are Susan Knopf, president of Scout Books & Media, and Sally Kim, marketing director at Callisto Media.
The winning stores will each receive a check for $1,000 and a signed work of original art from a children’s book illustrator. The awards will be presented at BookExpo’s Children’s Book and Author Breakfast on June 1 in New York City.
