History

In the Spring of 2016 discussions were held by the  Rhode Island Children’s Book Award Nominating Committee and the Rhode Island Teen Book Awards Nominating Committee about how best to serve the needs of Rhode Island readers.  It was then decided that a third committee was needed to better reach middle grade readers, and so The Rhode Island Middle School Book Award was created to target students in grades 6,7,and 8. 

A founding committee was created in June of 2016 and meetings were held in June, July and August.  The committee is made up of librarians, school librarians, teachers and community members who work with children in this age range. This group created a mission statement, bylaws and procedures for the committee.  Applications for membership were solicited and accepted and the nominating committee began meeting in September 2016.

The first list of nominated titles was announced in Spring, 2017.  The list was released on Facebook, then distributed to all Rhode Island educators and librarians via newsletter.