Another requirement is that the book for which the author or illustrator is being recognized have been originally published in the United States or Puerto Rico, and as of 2009, published during the preceding year. The award was established in 1996 and presented every other year from then until 2009 when the Pura Belpré Award became an annual award.
The co-sponsors of the Pura Belpré Award are the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, (Reforma) an ALA affiliate.
The Pura Belpré Award is named after the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. To learn more about Pura Belpré, see my review of The Storyteller's Candle, a children's picture book about the librarian. To learn more about recent Belpré Award winners and Honor books, see my articles:
