Golden Duck Award


The Golden Duck Awards for Excellence in Children's Science Fiction were given annually from 1992 to 2017. The awards were presented every year at either Worldcon or the North American Science Fiction Convention. In 2018 they were replaced by Notable Book Lists of the same names sponsored by the Library and Information Technology Association.
The Golden Duck Awards were funded by Super-Con-Duck-Tivity, Inc., the sponsor of the U.S. midwest regional science fiction convention DucKon. Winners were selected by a group of teachers, librarians, parents, high tech workers and reviewers.

Categories

The categories are:
There was also a provision for a Special Award if a book was found to be outstanding but did not fit any of the standard categories.

Golden Duck Award Winners

Picture Book

The picture book award is sometimes given to a book with non-fictional science content with a story "wrapper" as well as traditional Science Fiction themes.
This award is given to chapter books and middle grade novels. The protagonists are science users and problem solvers. Occasionally books with fantasy elements but a science fiction theme have won.
Hal Clement's own writings weren't YA, but his high school science teaching career strongly connects him to the YA age group. The primary story elements are correct science with science fictional extrapolations and characters who solve problems on their own.