Submission Guidelines

The Golden Duck Awards are for books of the previous year's copyright. (We allow two years for a book that is first published outside the United States because of the difficulty in finding these titles.) Books that are a collection of stories need to have stories that belong to that year and not previously published. Anyone may suggest a title for Golden Duck consideration. These suggestions are read, and eventually a finalist list of 5 - 6 titles in each catagory is generated. A jury of readers that have agreed to read all the books for that level get together in person or electronically and use Australian ballot to decide on the winners. Suggestions may be sent electronically to info{at}goldenduck{dot}org, or by snail-mail to:

Golden Duck Awards Committee
3S123 Mulberry Lane
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

Picture Book Guidelines

This award is split between both the author and the illustrator, as both are equally responsible. The book should be more science fiction than fantasy (this is hard at the picture book level, but we are looking for some evidence that it is done by science rather than magic).

Eleanor Cameron Award for Middle Grades Guidelines

The book should be more science fiction than fantasy and written for grades 2 - 6 (approximately). We are looking for "chapter books", and illustrations may be there, but it is the words that count. Good characterization is essential. We prefer that main characters be problem solvers and science users rather than someone who has to be rescued.

Hal Clement Award for Young Adult Guidelines

This award is named after Hal Clement (the pen name of Harry Stubbs - he died in 2003), who is a well known science fiction writer and science teacher. He helped children's science fiction programming wherever he went, and was an all-around nice guy. The award is for science fiction books written for grades 6 - 12 (approximately) that have a young adult protagonist. The science should be as correct as possible, but still a good story.