Award Rationale: Thousands of new and adapted stories are published each year. Storytellers (and story seekers) are looking for "just the right story" for a variety of reasons and occasions. Most professionals just don't have the time to read all of the new publications, so Storytelling World assists in this search through this annual awards program. Our staff publicizes the awards program through this web site, by e-mails to publishers, and through limited mailings. A staff of professionals proceed through the evaluation/selection process that culminates the following April. Each year's selections reflect the compiled opinions of all of our evaluators (who always represent different age groups, ethnic backgrounds, geographic regions, religious persuasions, and storytelling experiences). All judges are very carefully trained for this specific evaluation process. There are seven Storytelling World Award categories. The first four categories are stories for listeners of various age groups. Category 5 involves story collections in books. Category 6 is judged for ear (or eye) appeal-including the entertainment value of the recordings. Category 7 includes a variety of special resources, especially informational and non-story material.
Gail de Vos's most recent book, What Happens Next?A discussion of contemporary urban legends and popular culture, won in this year's Category 7: Special Storytelling Resources. This is the fifth time one of her books has been the winner in this category. Stories from Songs A handbook for using ballads as literary fictions for young adults won the award in 2010, Telling Tales: Storytelling in the Family by Gail de Vos, Merle Harris, and Celia Barker Lottridge and published by the University of Alberta Press was the recipient of the award in 2005, and her two books with co-author Anna Altman, Tales, Then and Now: Folktales as literary fictions for young adults and New Tales for Old: Folktales as Literary Fictions for Young Adults won the awards in 2003 and 2000. Gail's first book on contemporary legends, Tales, Rumors, and Gossip: Exploring contemporary folk literature in grades 7-12 was given an Honor Award for the same category in 1997. In 1995, the first year the awards were issued, the short story "Boiled Eggs" from the first edition of Storytelling for Young Adults- Techniques and Treasury won an honor award in Category 2, Stories for Pre-Adolescent and Adolescent Listeners.