Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children


The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality "spoken word" performances aimed at children. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position."

History

The award was first presented to Audrey Hepburn and producers Deborah Raffin and Michael Viner in 1994 for the album Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales. Its last winners were the artists, producers, audio engineers, and audio mixers who contributed to the album Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies in 2011, when it was announced the award would be combined with the Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children to form the Grammy Award for Best Children's Album.
Tom Chapin and producers Arnold Cardillo and David Rapkin, and audio engineer-musical director Rory Young hold the record for the most wins in this category, with a total of three. Artists Bill Harley and Jim Dale, along with audio engineer David Correia, are the other musicians to win the award more than once, all winning it twice. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has also won the award, along with Mikhail Gorbachev and Sophia Loren, for their work on the album Wolf Tracks and Peter and the Wolf at the 2003 installment of the awards.

Recipients

YearPerforming artistPersonnelWorkNomineesRef.
1994Deborah Raffin and Michael Viner, producers
1995Various artistsRobert Guillaume, narrator. Randy Thornton and Ted Kryczko, producers
1996Dan Broatman and Martin Sauer, producers
1997Steven Heller, David Holt, and Virginia Callaway, producers
1998John McElroy, producer
1999Various artistsDan Musselman and Stefan Rudnicki, producers
2000, Wynton Marsalis, and Kate WinsletDavid Frost and Steven Epstein, producers
2001David Rapkin, producer
2002Arnold Cardillo, producer. Rory Young, audio engineer
2003Arnold Cardillo, producer. Rory Young, audio engineer
2004, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Sophia LorenWilhelm Hellweg, producer. Jean-Marie Geijsen, audio engineer.
2005Arnold Cardillo, producer. Rory Young, audio engineer.
2006Various artistsChristopher B. Cerf and Marlo Thomas, producers. Nick Cipriano, audio engineer.
2007David Correia, audio engineer
2008Orli Moscowitz and David Rapkin, producers. Nikki Banks, Sound Engineer.
2009Daniel P. Dauterive, producer. Beth Anne Austein, David Correia, and Michael Marsolek, audio engineers.
2010Buck Howdy, producer. Steve Wetherbee, audio engineer and mixer.
2011 and Emma Walton HamiltonMichele McGonigle, producer. Cynthia Daniels, John Colucci and Tommy Harron, audio engineers and mixers.

Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.