The Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award honors an author or author-illustrator whose total work has contributed significantly to the quality of nonfiction for children. Nonfiction is written or illustrated work which arranges and interprets documentable facts intended to illuminate, without imaginative invention, the following fields of knowledge: science, technology, social science, history, biography, and the arts.

Any living American author or author-illustrator. Illustrators are eligible if they have written, as well as illustrated, their books.

Guild members suggest authors for consideration by June of the year preceding the award announcement; the committee meets to choose a number of possibilities for extensive summer reading. The list of possible candidates is narrowed in the fall, followed by additional reading and a meeting to choose the award recipient from these nominees. The Committee does not encourage specific submissions for this award. The winner is announced at the March business meeting of the Guild.

The Award Committee accepts any suggestions from the Guild membership but functions independently in determining each year's honoree. The Committee includes four active Guild members, who are designated as chair, immediate past chair, and two at-large, including at least one author or author-illustrator and at least one member who has had extensive experience working with children. A fifth member may be appointed by the Washington Post. The chair of the Committee will have served on the Committee for one year before assuming leadership and will be willing to remain as advisor following the term, in the capacity of immediate past president. The chair is appointed by the Guild president in collaboration with the current chair. Members-at-large are selected by the president.

Until 2007, the award was presented at the Children's Book Guild Luncheon which was held annually to coincide as nearly as possible with Children's Book Week in November. The award is jointly presented by the Award Committee chair and a representative of the Washington Post. The Award winner is asked to give a 10-20 minute presentation on a topic of his or her own choosing. In 2008, the Guild inaugurated a new tradition with an Award Celebration and afternoon tea in April.

The Award includes $2000 and an inscribed Baccarat crystal cube provided by the Washington Post.

• Distinguished writing and illustration.
• Clarity and accuracy, as well as literary distinction in writing, and in the case of author-illustrators, excellence in artistic presentation in illustration that enhances or augments the total presentation
• Stimulating presentation of ideas and facts that is likely to stimulate and challenge young readers
• Reader appeal is defined as lively writing and illustration leading to pleasure, curiosity, a sense of wonder, and further pursuit of knowledge by all readers
• Quantity is defined as a substantial body of published work of consistently high quality. The award may be given after a period of ten years for a second time to someone whose work continues to lead in the field.
• In addition to these specific criteria, the Committee endeavors to honor many fields of knowledge. The Committee also seeks a balance in honoring writers of books for different age levels. The award may honor authors whose work has not received extensive critical attention. In rare instances, the award may be given after a period of ten years for a second time to someone whose work continues to lead the field.
• The Award Committee is wholly responsible for the selection of the winner.

Celebrate the annual award during the Guild's Book Week Luncheon. Click here for details about the event and registration.

Year	Award Winner	Honors	Guest Speakers
1977	David Macaulay	Olivia Coolidge Laurence Pringle
1978	Millicent Selsam	Jean Fritz
1979	Jean Fritz	Milton Meltzer Laurence Pringle
1980	Shirley Glubok		Leonard E. Fisher Walter Dean Myers
1981	Milton Meltzer		Katherine Paterson Nancy Larrick
1982	Tana Hoban		Joan Aiken Karla Kuskin
1983	Patricia Lauber		Ashley Bryan Cynthia Voigt
1984	Jill Krementz		M.E.Kerr Vera Williams>
1985	Isaac Asimov		Jack Prelutsky Trina Schart Hyman
1986	Kathryn Lasky		Betsy Byars Charles Mikolaycak
1987	Gail Gibbons		Norma Fox Mazer Paul Zelinsky
1988	Jim Arnosky		Alice Provensen Gary Paulsen
1989	Leonard Everett Fisher		Lois Lowry Jerry Pinkney
1990	Brent Ashabranner		Eve Bunting Bruce Degan
1991	Joanna Cole		X.J.Kennedy Anita Lobel
1992	Russell Freedman		John Scieszka Pat Cummings
1993	Seymour Simon		Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Patricia Polacco
1994	Jim Haskins		Johanna Hurwitz William Joyce
1995	Albert Marrin		Steven Kellogg Jean and Mou-Sien Tseng
1996	James Cross Giblin		Helen Griffith Ted Lewin
1997	Rhoda Blumberg		Richard Peck David Wiesner
1998	Jean Craighead George		Avi Ed Emberley
1999	Laurence Pringle		Jerry Pinkney Julius Lester
2000	Diane Stanley		Katherine Paterson David Wisniewski
2001	Jim Murphy		M.E.Kerr Emily Arnold McCully
2002	George Ancona		Sharon Creech E.B.Lewis
2003	Steve Jenkins		Andrew Clements James Ransome
2004	Dorothy Hinshaw Patent		Jerry and Eileen Spinelli Mark Teague
2005	Caroline Arnold		Donna Jo Napoli Brian Selznick
2006	Sneed B. Collard III		Chris Raschka Norton Juster
2007	Doreen Rappaport

In 1977, David Macaulay received the first Nonfiction Award from the Children's Book Guild of Washington, D.C. The award was the brainchild of Patricia Markun , President of the Guild in 1977, who believed there was merit in honoring the creators of lively and well-crafted nonfiction. Guild records show that the executive committee was enthusiastic about the idea but stipulated that the award be given for five years and then re-evaluated. Winners were to be selected for the total body of their work, not a single book. The award would be a certificate designed by Guild member Gloria Kamen and an honorarium; two additional authors would receive honors.

The minutes of the Book Week Luncheon on November 12, 1977, report that "the highlight of the afternoon was the presentation by Virginia Haviland of the first Children's Book Guild Award for Nonfiction to David Macaulay. He accepted the certificate and check and gave a graceful, amusing talk. Olivia Coolidge and Laurence Pringle, honor winners of the award, each said a few words." Five years later - in 1981 - the Guild membership voted to continue the award indefinitely.

The Washington Post had been invited to co-sponsor the award at its inception in 1977. The Post actually added its name to the Nonfiction Award several years later, when then-president Mary Childs re-opened the possibility with Brigitte Weeks, Editor of the Post's Book World. Vincent Reed, the Post's Vice President for Communications, announced that the co-sponsorship of the Nonfiction Award would start in 1983. He pointed out that once again, after a lapse of nine years, the Post and the Guild would become partners in another worthy venture - the Guild having been an active cosponsor of the Post's citywide book fairs from 1950-1974.

A committee of Guild and Post representatives concluded that the name of the award would be "The Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Award for Nonfiction." The Post would contribute an etched crystal Baccarat cube, a sizable sum of money for each winner and publicity for the award and the award luncheon. Brigitte Weeks, or her deputy or successor, would be a permanent member of the award jury.

The Guild membership approved the following purposes and standards in June 1983:
Nonfiction is defined as written or illustrated work which arranges and interprets documentable facts intended to illuminate, without imaginative invention, the following fields of knowledge: science, technology, social science, history, biography, and the arts. The purpose of the award is to honor an author or author-illustrator whose total work has contributed significantly to the quality of nonfiction for children, in the words of the original designers of the award, an author who "creatively produced books that made a difference."