March 20, 2015 – A new book award, the Grateful American™ Book Prize, has been established to honor children’s books of fiction and nonfiction that feature the events and the people that shaped the history of the U.S.

The Prize was co-founded by author and publisher David Bruce Smith who said, “Of the more than five dozen literary awards for children’s books in the U.S., the Grateful American™ Book Prize is the only one awarded for excellence in writing, storytelling and illustration in the category of historically accurate works for children. Our aim is to restore the role of history in the education of America’s children at a time when the focus in the classroom is on math and science.”

The Prize consists of a $13,000 cash award and a not-yet-revealed work to be created by Smith’s mother, the renowned artist Clarice Smith.

Books submitted must be published in 2014 through June 2015. The Prize is open to any and all works of nonfiction and fiction that portray events and people in an historically accurate manner and that appeal to youngsters in the 7th through 9th grades.

A panel of judges will begin reviewing submissions now until August 31, 2015.

The judges include: Co-founders David Bruce Smith and Dr. Bruce Cole, the former Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Dr. Rod Paige, former U.S. Secretary of Education, Dr. Louise Mirrer, President and CEO, New York Historical Society, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author, Nick Kotz, Dr. Douglas Bradburn, author, historian and Founding Director of the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon and John Danielson, Founder of Chartwell Education Group and former Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Education.