It's Newbery Day, 2009

The 2009 ALA Midwinter Conference is in full swing in Denver right now, and this morning was IT for ALA's Youth Media Awards, such as the Newbery, Caldecott, Geisel, and more.

Some of this year's distinguished honorees include:

Newbery Medal
Neil Gaiman for The Graveyard Book

Newbery Honor Books
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle

Savvy by Ingrid Law

After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson

Caldecott Medal
Beth Krommes, illustrator of The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson

Caldecott Honor Books
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee

How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, written by Jen Bryant

Coretta Scott King Author Award
Kadir Nelson for We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball

Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books
The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Keeping the Night Watch by Hope Anita Smith, illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper **This was one of my absolute favorites this year. Stunning writing, stunning art.**

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award
Floyd Cooper for The Blacker the Berry, written by Joyce Carol Thomas

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Books
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Before John Was a Jazz Giant written by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Sean Qualls

The Moon Over Star by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

Michael L. Printz Award
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Theodor Suess Geisel Award
Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award
Ashley Bryan

Congratulations to all the honorees! For a full list of the 2009 awards, check the ALA site for updates later today.

Fellow writer/blogger Darcy Pattison has put up a poll to see how interested writer-types have found today's news. Did you watch the webcast or track the awards on Facebook (that's what I did)? Or are you reading about the awards here? (Lucky you if you were in the room — I've witnessed the awards announcements with my own eyeballs once in the past, and that was exciting!) Click on over to Darcy's blog to take the poll.

Also, just for fun, here's a fresh AP piece with author Neil Gaiman's reaction to winning the Newbery this morning.