JUDY GODDARD AWARD WINNER 2025

ELAINE A. POWERS

We are proud to announce the winner of the Judy Goddard Award for 2025, Elaine A. Powers. A retired biologist, actor and singer, and a conservationist with a passion for reptiles, Elaine is the author of over 25 science-based children’s stories, many of them set in the American Southwest. Her book, Dinosaurs Roamed Arizona, was a 2025 Pima County Public Library Best Books of the Southwest Winner. Other of her recent works feature rattlesnakes, desert tortoises, and roadrunners, as well as creatures from other areas of the world.

Elaine states, “I have always loved science, but the musician in me loves rhythm and entertainment, so science needs to be fun. Thus, you will find science woven into adventure tales and rhyming stanzas, which have been shown to support cognitive development in children and grow their language skills.”

Elaine was a 2024 Summer Writer- in -Residence with the Pima County Public Library where she consulted with aspiring writers. Originally from Peoria, Illinois, she has lived in Oro Valley, Arizona for the past 15 years.

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What is the “Judy Goddard Award”?

Sensing the importance of recognizing authors and illustrators whose work captures the uniqueness of Arizona and the Southwest, Judy Goddard, the founder of Libraries, Ltd., worked with members of the Arizona State Library Association in 1983 to establish an award for excellence in books about Arizona for children.

Originally, the award was named the Arizona Author Award. In 1997, this evolved into two awards: one for children’s authors and illustrators and the other for writers for the young adult audience. At this time, the boards of both organizations voted to change the name of the awards to honor the work of the awards’ sponsor. The awards were renamed the Judy Goddard/Libraries, Ltd. Arizona Children’s Author/Illustrator Award and the Judy Goddard/Libraries, Ltd. Arizona Young Adult Author Award.

As of 2019, Libraries Ltd will give only one award each year instead of two. The award will be presented to the author/illustrator whose work best meets our criteria for either children or young adults. The most important criteria are literary and/or artistic merit and that the work features or is closely identified with Arizona and the surrounding regions. Preference is given to authors living in Arizona.