Brookline Booksmith, Wild Rumpus Named 2016 Pannell Winners

This year’s winners of the WNBA Pannell Awards are Brookline Booksmith, in Brookline, Massachusetts, in the general bookstore category and Wild Rumpus Books, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the children’s specialty category. The winners were announced by the Women’s National Book Association on Thursday, April 14.

A jury of five book industry professionals chose the winners from among 34 general bookstores and 11 children’s specialty stores nominated for this year’s awards. The winners will be honored for their exceptional creativity in fostering a love of reading among their young patrons during BookExpo America’s Children’s Author Breakfast on May 13 at McCormick Place in Chicago. Each winning store will be presented with a check for $1,000 and a piece of original art by a children’s book illustrator.

Brookline Booksmith’s Dana Brigham and Wild Rumpus’ Collette Morgan expressed their appreciation for the award. “Winning the Pannell Award is an unbelievable honor for our 55-year-old bookstore,” said Brigham, adding “We were thrilled to be nominated in such amazing company.”

Morgan, one of the co-founders of Wild Rumpus, said, “We are exhilarated and flattered to have been chosen for the 2016 Pannell Award. It couldn’t have come at a better time. Thank you from our collective hearts.”

The WNBA Pannell Award is co-sponsored by Penguin Young Readers Group.