Charlotte Huck Award

The Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children is given by the National Council of Teachers of English to recognize fiction with the power to change young readers' lives. Named for children's literature scholar Charlotte S. Huck, it looks for stories that invite compassion, imagination and wonder, and its first winner was named for 2015.

An NCTE committee selects one winner each year, along with a group of honor books and a longer list of recommended titles, giving teachers and families a ready source of strong fiction for classrooms and home reading. Results are announced at the NCTE Annual Convention in November, and each award carries the following year's date. The 2026 award, for example, was announced in November 2025.

Works of fiction for children, considered by an NCTE committee for their potential to transform young readers' lives through compassion, imagination and wonder.