Cover illustration for The Little Match Girl

Norman Rockwell Museum is pleased to congratulate beloved picture book illustrator Jerry Pinkney on his historic receipt of two lifetime achievement awards in a single day—as announced by the American Library Association (ALA) today, January 11, 2016, at their Mid-Winter Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

The artist is the winner of the 2016 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, which honors an author or illustrator, published in the United States, whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to children’s literature. He is also the recipient of the 2016 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, for works that explore cultural experiences and ethnic identity with insight, skill, and distinctive style. Both honors cite Pinkney’s exceptional work in illuminating the legacy of African American storytelling and experience, through work that has refined and advanced the scope of picture books for multiple levels of learners.

Norman Rockwell Museum has recently completed work on Jerry Pinkney: Imaginings/An Artist’s Exploration of Images and Words, a national traveling exhibition of Pinkney’s original art. The exhibition opens on Thursday, January 21 at the Suzanne H. Arnold Gallery at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania, and is accompanied by a family-friendly interactive guide, curriculum materials, an engaging audio tour, and exhibition-related videos. This June, Pinkney is to be named Norman Rockwell Museum’s Artist Laureate, an award bestowed to noted contemporary practitioners for their accomplishments in the field, and dedication to the Museum’s mission to further public knowledge and appreciation of the art of illustration. Congratulations to Jerry Pinkney on these prestigious and well-deserved awards!