| Odyssey Award | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | the year's best English-language audiobook for children or young adults |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Association for Library Service to Children and Young Adult Library Services Association, divisions of ALA |
| First awarded | 2008 |
| Website | ala |
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".[1][2] It is jointly administered by two ALA divisions (Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)) and sponsored by Booklist magazine.[3] It recognizes production quality in all respects, considering such things as narration, sound quality, background music and sound effects.[3] 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.[3]
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."[4]
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