The Cardinal Cup Award Committee

About the Cardinal Cup Committee

Established in 1982 and presented since 1983, the Cardinal Cup Committee's, formerly the Jefferson Cup, goal is to promote reading about America’s past; to encourage the quality writing of United States history, biography, and historical fiction for young people, and to recognize authors in these disciplines. From 2012-2021 two books were selected: one for geared toward young adult readers and one for young readers. Beginning in 2022, the Committee returned to the original model, honoring the most distinguished biography, historical fiction, or American history book for young people.

The Cardinal Cup Committee selects the winning titles for the Cardinal Cup Award. The committee has 8 members: a chairperson (selected by the previous year's committee), 6 committee members selected by the current chair, and the advisory past chair of the previous year's Cardinal Cup Committee. All committee members must be members of VLA and are all voting members of the committee.

Get Involved

You may apply yourself or submit a colleague for consideration for the committee. Persons selected must be willing to commit time to read and evaluate books; committee members may receive over 200 titles and read and review approximately 100 books. Members will attend once monthly Zoom meetings, scheduled at the same time each month, to discuss contenders. These meetings generally last 1-2 hours. There will be a single all day meeting held in person in Richmond to select the winning titles, usually held in May or June. Please discuss this time commitment with your supervisor prior to applying.

Persons who serve on the committee should be knowledgeable of literature for young people and have book evaluation experience. Members of the committee agree to keep deliberations and books under review confidential. Cardinal Cup Committee members are expected to present programs at the annual VLA and VAASL conferences and should plan to attend one of these conferences.