What Is the Difference Between the Maud Hart Lovelace and Star of the North Awards?

Updated

Both are "read-and-vote" book award programs run by Minnesota Youth Reading Awards (MYRA), and each has its own separate nominee list, winners, and archive on myrahome.org. The site presents them as two distinct awards, each with its own "About" page describing its purpose and audience, so the practical difference for a reader is which list you follow and which award you vote in. The site does not publish grade-level or age ranges for either award in the material available here, so check each award's About page before assigning a list to a specific class or age group.

What the two awards share

  • Same organization, same model. MYRA administers yearly read-and-vote awards; readers read nominee titles, then vote for a winner.
  • Same site structure. Each award has a current-year nominee list, a winners page, and an archive of past nominees going back to 2021, plus a "Suggest a Title" form and a volunteer sign-up.
  • Same membership. A single MYRA membership gives voting privileges for both the Maud Hart Lovelace and the Star of the North awards for one site, according to the site's "Why Join MYRA?" section.

Where they differ

Dimension Maud Hart Lovelace (MHL) Star of the North (SOTN)
Nominee list Separate MHL nominees by year (2027, 2026, 2025 … back to 2021) Separate SOTN nominees by year (same year range)
Winners Separate MHL winners page and archive Separate SOTN winners page and archive
About page "About MHL Award" "About SOTN Award"
Publisher involvement Not listed as a separate menu item Has a dedicated "Publishers" entry

The site's navigation treats them as parallel tracks: MHL pages and SOTN pages each carry their own nominees, winners, archives, volunteer form, and title-suggestion form. The one visible asymmetry is the Publishers section, which appears under SOTN.

How to decide which list to use

  1. Open each award's About page ("About MHL Award" and "About SOTN Award") to read the stated purpose and intended audience. This is the only place on the site where the distinction is explained in the organization's own words.
  2. Match the list to your readers. If you run a classroom, library, or book club, pick the award whose About page fits your group's level; the site does not give a grade range in the homepage text, so don't assume one.
  3. Check the current cycle. The homepage links to the 2025–2026 nominee lists for both awards and to the 2026 winners announcement, so confirm you are looking at the active year before printing or sharing a list.
  4. Join once for both. If your readers will vote, a single site membership covers voting in both awards.

What you can do on the site right now

  • Watch the 2026 MYRA announcement event recording.
  • View the 2025–2026 Maud Hart Lovelace nominees and the 2025–2026 Star of the North nominees.
  • Browse past nominees and winners for either award back to 2021.
  • Submit a title suggestion for MHL or SOTN, or volunteer with either program.
  • Contact the organization at [email protected] if you want to help with MYRA activities.

MYRA describes itself as 100% volunteer powered and says it has connected Minnesota youth to books for 40 years. The site runs on Wild Apricot membership software and includes a login area for members.