Shirley Henn was a retired librarian who worked at Hollins for years. She also authored a children's picture book titled "Hooty Owl and His Friends." She was very interested in the Children's Literature Program and gave $200 every year to it for the critical and creative awards presented during the Francelia Butler Conference. When she died, she left additional possessions to the university, and the department decided to name the critical and creative awards in her honor.

 

The creative and critical works honored with the Shirley Henn Award must withstand two rounds of scoring. First, a committee of graduate students from the Children's Literature program read and score all submissions to the conference. Only the highest ranked papers are then forwarded to a panel of judges who have been invited to read either the critical or creative entries. Based on the judges scores, the winner of the Shirley Henn Award is determined.

 

 

Past winners of the Shirley Henn Award:

 

1995

Critical: Anastasia Kimball: "The Postman Always Rings Twice: Revisiting Neil Postman's Concept of Childhood's End in Contemporary Young Adult
Literature"
Creative: Lisa Thalhimer: "Chomanesh"

 

1996

Critical: Lisa Marie Crane: "To Be or Not To Be . . . A Frog: The Frog Prince and Shifting Paradigms"
Creative: Marilyn MacGregor: "The Horse and the Moon"

 

1997

Critical: Joan Carris: "What's Going On in the Garden"
Creative: Debra Smith: "Me, Medusa"

 

1998

Critical: Elizabeth Schafer: "Vulnerable Voices: Male Protagonists in Rob
Thomas's Young Adult Fiction"
Creative: Theresa Churchill: "The Muffin Queen of Venice Beach"

 

1999

Critical: Karen Van Fossan: "Harriet M. Welsch: Queer Spy"
Creative: Anne Ernst: From The Money Fly

 

2000

Critical: Shama Narang: "The Story of Babe: Something Old, Something New"
Creative: Shama Narang: From How to Hit the Long Ball and What To Do
When It Leaves the Park

 

2001

Critical: Alaine Martaus: "The Literary Sources of Anne's Conception of
Gender"
Amie Rose Rotruck: "Allusions in Terabithia"
Creative: Valerie Patterson: "Wing"

 

2002

Critical: Dawn Sardella-Ayres: "Under the Umbrella: the Author Heroine's Love Triangle"
Barbara Sproat: "Internal Spiritual Rhythm and Orphanage in Roller Skates"
Creative: Jessica Anderson: "Border Crossing"

 

2003

Critical: Carter Forester: "Bildungsroman as Picture Book"
Dawn Sardella-Ayres: "A Ridiculous Thing for a Little Girl To Do"
Creative: Marcie Atkins: "The Biography of Vinnie Ream"

 

2004

Critical: Elizabeth Parker: "A Fractured Princess"
Creative: Elizabeth Parker: "Hunting the Coyote"

 

2005

Critical: Bronte Colbert: "Out of the Closet: The Extraordinary Broom of Chris Van Allsburg"
Creative: Valerie Patterson: "Curaco Blue"

 

2006

Critical:
Creative:

 

2007

Critical:
Creative:

 

2008

Critical:
Creative: