Odyssey Award
The Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production is an annual award conferred by the American Library Association upon the publisher of "the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States". It is jointly administered by two ALA divisions and Young Adult Library Services Association ) and sponsored by Booklist magazine. It recognizes production quality in all respects, considering such things as narration, sound quality, background music and sound effects. It is named for Homer's eighth century BCE epic poem Odyssey, which was transmitted orally, to remind us modern people of the ancient roots of storytelling.
The award was inaugurated in 2008.
For many reasons indicated in the 2008 manifesto, "it is essential for ALSC and YALSA to provide the same level of support for this nonprint format that they have historically provided for print materials, by creating an annual award for the best audiobooks in the field."
Criteria
Source: "Eligibility & Criteria"- All literary genres are eligible for consideration, including read-alongs.
- The Committee will consider and vote on titles published within their assigned calendar year, January 1 to October 31, in addition to those published between November 1 and December 31 of the previous year. A title may only be submitted once and cannot be reconsidered the next year.
- Audiobooks produced previously in another audio format are ineligible for consideration.
- The audiobook is intended for either young adults or children, who are defined as persons up to and including age 18; works for this entire age range are to be considered. Adult titles are ineligible.
- Audiobooks featuring single or full cast narration are eligible.
- Audiobooks previously published in another country are eligible presuming they have also been distributed in the United States during the term of eligibility.
- Only audiobooks produced in English are considered, but this requirement does not limit the use of words or phrases in another language where appropriate in context.
- If no title is deemed sufficiently meritorious, no award will be given that year.
- The chair, with assistance from designated ALSC or YALSA staff, is responsible for verifying the eligibility of all nominated titles.
- The award will be presented to the publisher of the audiobooks.
Recipients
Year | Title | Producer | Narrator | Author | Citation |
2020 | Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction | Scholastic Audiobooks | Jarrett J. Krosoczk, Jeanne Birdsall, Jenna Lamia, Richard Ferrone and more | Jarrett J. Krosoczk | Winner |
2020 | Redwood and Ponytail | Hachette Audio | Cassandra Morris and Tessa Netting | K.A. Holt | Honor |
2020 | Song for a Whale | Listening Library | Abigail Revasch with Lynne Kelly | Lynne Kelly | Honor |
2020 | We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga | Live Oak Media | Lauren Hummingbird, Agalisiga Mackey, Ryan Mackey, Traci Sorell, Tonia Weavel | Traci Sorell | Honor |
2020 | We're Not from Here | Listening Library | Dani Martineck | Geoff Rodkey | Honor |
2019 | Sadie | Macmillan Audio | Rebecca Soler, Fred Berman, Dan Bittner, Gabra Zackman, and more | Courtney Summers | Winner |
2019 | Du Iz Tak | Weston Woods Studio | Eli D’Amico, Sebastian D’Amico, Burton Fott, Galen Fott, Laura Fott, Sarah Hart, Bella Higginbotham, Evelyn Hipp, and Brian Hull | Carson Ellis | Honor |
2019 | Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist | Live Oak Media | Brian Amador | Susan Wood | Honor |
2019 | The Parker Inheritance | Scholastic Audiobooks | Cherise Booth | Varian Johnson | Honor |
2019 | The Poet X | HarperAudio | Elizabeth Acevedo | Elizabeth Acevedo | Honor |
2018 | The Hate U Give | HarperAudio | Bahni Turpin | Angie Thomas | Winner |
2018 | The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage | Listening Library | Michael Sheen | Philip Pullman | Honor |
2018 | A Boy Called Christmas | Listening Library | Stephen Fry | Matt Haig | Honor |
2018 | Long Way Down | Simon and Schuster Audio | Jason Reynolds | Jason Reynolds | Honor |
2018 | Trombone Shorty | Live Oak Media | Dion Graham | Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews | Honor |
2018 | The Wizards of Once | Hachette Audio | David Tennant | Cressida Cowell | Honor |
2017 | Anna and the Swallow Man | Listening Library | Gavriel Savit | Winner | |
2017 | Dream On, Amber | Recorded Books | Honor | ||
2017 | Ghost | Simon and Schuster Audio | Honor | ||
2017 | Nimona | HarperAudio | , Jonathan Davis, Marc Thompson, January LaVoy, Natalie Gold, Peter Bradbury and David Pittu | Honor | |
2016 | Listening Library | Winner | |||
2016 | Echo | Scholastic Audio | , David de Vries, MacLeod Andrews, Rebecca Soler | Honor | |
2015 | H.O.R.S.E. A Game of Basketball and Imagination | Live Oak Media | and Christopher Myers | Winner | |
2015 | Five, Six, Seven, Nate! | Audioworks division of Simon and Schuster Audio | Honor | ||
2015 | Listening Library | Honor | |||
2015 | Scholastic Audiobooks | Honor | |||
2014 | Scowler | Listening Library | Winner | ||
2014 | Better Nate Than Ever | Simon and Schuster Audio | Honor | ||
2014 | Creepy Carrots! | Weston Woods Studios, Inc | Honor | ||
2014 | Eleanor & Park | Listening Library | and Sunil Malhotra | Honor | |
2014 | Matilda | Penguin Audio | Honor | ||
2013 | Brilliance Audio | Winner | |||
2013 | Listening Library | Honor | |||
2013 | Ghost Knight | Listening Library | Honor | ||
2013 | Monstrous Beauty | Macmillan Audio | Honor | ||
2012 | Rotters | Listening Library | Winner | ||
2012 | Ghetto Cowboy | Brilliance Audio | Honor | ||
2012 | Okay for Now | Listening Library | Honor | ||
2012 | Scholastic Audio Books | Fiona Hardingham | Honor | ||
2012 | Young Fredle | Listening Library | Honor | ||
2011 | Listening Library | Winner | |||
2011 | Alchemy and Meggy Swann | Listening Library | Honor | ||
2011 | Brilliance Audio | Honor | |||
2011 | Revolution | Listening Library | Honor | ||
2011 | Will Grayson, Will Grayson | Brilliance Audio | David Levithan | Honor | |
2010 | Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken | Live Oak Media | Winner | ||
2010 | In the Belly of the Bloodhound | Listen & Live Audio | Honor | ||
2010 | Peace, Locomotion | Brilliance Audio | Honor | ||
2010 | We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro Baseball | Brilliance Audio | Honor | ||
2009 | Recorded Books | Winner | |||
2009 | Curse of the Blue Tattoo | Listen & Live Audio | Honor | ||
2009 | Elijah of Buxton | Listening Library | Honor | ||
2009 | I'm Dirty | Scholastic Media / Weston Woods Studios | Jim McMullan | Honor | |
2009 | Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale | Peachtree Publishers | Honor | ||
2009 | Nation | HarperAudio | Honor | ||
2008 | Jazz | Live Oak Media | Vaneese Thomas | Winner | |
2008 | Bloody Jack | Listen & Live Audio | Honor | ||
2008 | Dooby Dooby Moo | Scholastic / Weston Woods | Honor | ||
2008 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | Listening Library | Honor | ||
2008 | Skulduggery Pleasant | HarperCollins Children's Audio | Honor | ||
2008 | Treasure Island | Listening Library | Honor |
Multiple awards
has won 5 awards and Live Oak Media has won 3.Listening Library, an imprint of Random House, has produced 11 of the 30 winners and runners-up while Brilliance Audio of Amazon has produced six.
Katherine Kellgren is the narrator of five Honor Audiobooks, including three written by L. A. Meyer and produced by Listen & Live Audio — the first, second, and fourth Jacky Faber books.
Sherman Alexie, author and narrator of the 2009 Odyssey Award-winning audiobook, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, also won the annual National Book Award for Young People's Literature for the print edition of that book.