The Youth Media Awards aren't the only honors out there. Here are some winners in advance of the American Library Association's big day, as well as a little publishing news.

YALSA Names Awards and Grant Recipients

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) named Mary K. Chelton the recipient of its 2018 Outstanding Achievement Award. Chelton is a retired professor of the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College, CUNY; YALSA past president; co-founder of the Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) magazine; and an author who has written articles and books on young adult services and reader’s advisory. The $2,000 award, given every other year, recognizes a YALSA member who has demonstrated unique and sustained devotion to young adult services through substantial work throughout their career.

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The YALSA 2018 Volunteer of the Year Awards go to the 2018 Printz Award committee chair Angela Carstensen, Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers blogging team, and Molly Wetta, manager of YALSA website The Hub. The awards, which are given annually to a chair or team lead, group and individual, acknowledge the contributions of members who have "demonstrated outstanding service to the mission, goals and work" of the organization during a given service year.

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YALSA also announced that Amelia Anderson and Abigail Phillips were awarded the 2018 Frances Henne Research Grant to assist their research project, “Youth with Autism and Digital Citizenship in the Library: What They Need and What Brings Them In.” Anderson is a postdoctoral scholar in the School of Information at Florida State University; Phillips is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences at Utah State University. The $1,000 grant is administered by YALSA and funded by VOYA magazine.

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2018 Sydney Taylor Book Awards Announced

The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) announced the winners of their annual Sydney Taylor Book Awards. The Language of Angels: A Story About the Reinvention of Hebrew by Richard Michelson (Charlesbridge), illustrated by Karla Gudeon, won the younger readers category. The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Older Readers went to Refugee by Alan Gratz (Scholastic Press) . The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe (Holt), translated by Lilit Thwaites, won in the teen category. The Sydney Taylor Body of Work Award went to PJ Library—an organization that partners with communities around the world to provide Jewish children with free books, music, and resources—and its founder Harold Grinspoon.

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Wolk Wins O’Dell Award

The 2018 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction goes to Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk (Dutton). The Scott O’Dell Award is given annually to the author of a "distinguished work of historical fiction for young people published by a U.S. publisher and set in the Americas."

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New Scholastic Imprint

Scholastic will launch a new imprint, Scholastic Focus, of narrative nonfiction books for middle grade and young adult readers in fall 2018. Titles coming in the fall include The Grand Escape: The Greatest Prison Breakout of the 20th Century by Neal Bascomb; Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice by Lawrence Goldstone; and D-Day: The World War II Invasion That Changed History by Deborah Hopkinson.