Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction honors one distinguished work of historical fiction for children or teenagers each year. Scott O'Dell, author of Island of the Blue Dolphins, created it in 1982 with Zena Sutherland, a children's literature professor at the University of Chicago, hoping more writers would turn to historical fiction and more young readers would take an interest in the past that shaped their country. No book was judged strong enough in its first two years, so the first award was given in 1984. Sutherland led the selection committee until her death in 2002.

Since 2022 the award has been based at Kent State University's Reinberger Children's Library Center, with the O'Dell family still funding it and sharing in its administration. A committee of librarians, educators and scholars reads books published during the previous calendar year and chooses a single winner, with no honor books. The winner, usually announced in January, receives $5,000.

Fiction for children or young adults, written in English by a U.S. citizen, issued by a U.S. publisher during the previous calendar year, and set in North, Central or South America.