The Walter Awards

Alicia K. Long is a bilingual librarian, educator, and scholar. She is an adjunct instructor at the University of South Florida, School of Information (USF SI) teaching “Multicultural Materials for Children and Young Adults” and the Access Services Supervisor at the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota Libraries. Alicia is the 2021-2022 President of REFORMA de Florida, a chapter of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking. She has chaired and been a member of the Pura Belpré Award Selection Committee and a book reviewer for The Horn Book Magazine. Alicia was an American Library Association (ALA) Emerging Leader and an ALA Spectrum Scholar.

J. Tyler Chadwell-English is a Teen Librarian and Volunteer Coordinator for Urbana Regional Library in the Frederick County Maryland Public Library System. He graduated with a Master's in Library and Information Science from The University of Pittsburgh. He has an additional Masters in Folklore from George Mason University. Prior to that he worked and taught at The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center on the campus of Fairmont State University. His most recent accomplishment is co-writing a chapter in Dr. Simon Bronner’s new text The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies on LGBTQIA+ folklore and community folklife.

Lindsay Hall is a school librarian at Alexandria City High School. Inspired by the phenomenal librarians in her hometown of Marietta, Georgia, she is dedicated to showing young learners how libraries can enrich their lives by building community, answering questions, and fostering creativity. She has been fortunate to work with students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, and strives to encourage the next generation of readers and lifelong learners. In addition to her role as school librarian, she has also collaborated on projects in Guatemala, Ghana, and Jamaica to connect with readers around the world.

Ariana Hussain is a Lower School teacher-librarian at the Blake School in the Minneapolis metro area. Currently serving a three-year term on the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Board of Directors of the American Library Association (ALA), she previously served two years as chair of the ALSC Grants Administration Committee. She has also served on the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) Executive Board as a Member-at-Large and as co-chair of the Family Literacy Focus Committee/Talk Story. Ariana was a 2014 ALA Emerging Leader. Ariana has served on several book evaluation committees including Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 a part of the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) of the American Library Association (ALA), the Stonewall Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award of ALA’s Rainbow Roundtable, ALSC Notable Children’s Books Committee, the APALA Literature Awards: Picture Books Committee, and the Middle East Outreach Council (MEOC), Middle East Book Award: Youth Nonfiction. Ariana has reviewed for Kirkus, Horn Book, and School Library Journal. She is a founding member of Hijabi Librarians, a collective of Muslim librarians that evaluate kidlit books featuring Muslim characters or have Muslim authors.

For the last 40 years, Gregory Lum has been in education as a classroom teacher or school librarian. Lum has taught all levels from kindergarten to graduate-level college courses. He earned a B.S. in elementary education from Oregon State University and an M.L.S. from Vanderbilt University. Currently, Lum serves as the library director at Jesuit High School in Portland. He also taught courses as an adjunct instructor for Portland State University and George Fox University. Professionally, Lum served on the board and/or committees for the Oregon Association of School Libraries, ALA, AASL, YALSA, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Improving Literacy through School Libraries review board. In 2009-10, he was one of twelve school librarians selected to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Library Media Standards Committee.  Lum was appointed to the 2007 Best Books for Young Adults, the 2011 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (chair), the Michael L. Printz Award (2012 admin, 2014 committee member), the 2016 Award for Excellence in Nonfiction (chair), the 2018 Schneider Family Book Awards, the 2019 John Newbery Medal, the 2021 Walter Dean Myers Book Award, and a second term on the Walter Dean Myers Book Award. Recognitions include Library Journal's Movers and Shakers Award, YALSA’s Baker & Taylor Award, National School Library Media Specialist of the Year Award, Oregon Secondary Library Media Teacher of the Year Award, and YALSA's Volunteer of the Year.

Rachel L. Rickard Rebellino is a teacher, researcher, and consultant. She holds a PhD in Teaching and Learning with a specialty in Literature for Children and Young Adults from The Ohio State University, where she was a Presidential Fellow. Rachel has taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses on children's and young adult literature at The Ohio State University and Bowling Green State University. Her academic research focuses on narrative form, digital youth cultures, girlhood studies, and the role of youth literature in facilitating conversations around equity and justice. Her work on youth literature can be found in The ALAN Review, English Journal, The Lion and the Unicorn, and Bookbird as well as in the edited collections Dust Off the Gold Medal: Rediscovering Children's Literature at the Newbery Centennial, Beyond the Blockbusters: Themes and Trends in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction, Critical Approaches for Critical Educators: Engaging with Multicultural Young Adult Literature in the Secondary Classroom, and Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults: A Collection of Critical Essays. She previously served on the committee of The Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry.