TheChristopher Award (established 1949) is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, films and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit".[1] It is given byThe Christophers, a Christian organization founded in 1945 by theMaryknoll priestJames Keller.
Publishers, TV networks, and film directors are asked to submit titles and work that they believe to be award-worthy. Industry professionals and Christopher staff members make the final selections based on:
Artistic and technical proficiency
Significant degree of public acceptance
Affirmation of the highest values of the human spirit
Five Years in Heaven: The Unlikely Friendship That Answered Life’s Greatest Questions byJohn Schlimm (Image Books/Crown Publishing)
The Gift of Caring: Saving Our Parents from the Perils of Modern Healthcare by Marcy Cottrell Houle and Elizabeth Eckstrom (Taylor Trade Publishing/Rowman & Littlefield)
One Righteous Man: Samuel Battle and the Shattering of the Color Line in New York by Arthur Browne (Beacon Press)
Tough As They Come by Travis Mills with Marcus Brotherton (Convergent Books/Crown Publishing)
Under the Same Sky: From Starvation in North Korea to Salvation in America by Joseph Kim with Stephan Talty (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The Wind in the Reeds: A Storm, a Play, and the City That Would Not Be Broken byWendell Pierce (Riverhead Books/Random House)
Ages 10 and up:The Boy On the Wooden Box byLeon Leyson with Marilyn J. Harran and Elisabeth B. Leyson (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing)
Preschool and up:One Good Deed by Terri Fields, illustrated by Deborah Melmon (Kar-Ben Publishing)
Kindergarten and up:An Invisible Thread Christmas Story by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski, illustrated by Barry Root (Little Simon/Simon & Schuster)
Ages 6 and up:Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton by Don Tate (Peachtree Publishers)
Ages 8 and up:Katie’s Cabbage by Katie Stagliano with Michelle H. Martin, illustrated by Karen Heid (Young Palmetto Books/University of South Carolina Press)
Ages 10 and up:Firefly Hollow byAlison McGhee, illustrated by Christopher Denise (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)
Young Adult:Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott (Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster)
^"Christopher Awards".WGA Newsletter. April 1978. p. 6.ProQuest2293616780.'Distinguished achievement' is based on the criteria of affirming the high value of the human spirit, artistic and technical proficiency and significant degree of public acceptance. Honored were Esther & Richard Shapiro, 'Minstrel Man'; Jerry McNeely, 'Something for Joey'; Bill Moyers & Tom Spain, 'The Fire Next Door'; Dr. Robert E. Fuisz, 'The Body Human'; Anthony Burgess, Franco Zeffirelli, Suso Cecchi D'Amico, 'Jesus of Nazareth'; Theodore J. Flicker, Allan Balter, 'Just a Little Inconvenience'; W.W. Lewis, 'Tut: The Boy King'; Romeo Muller, 'The Hobbit'; Caryl Ledner, 'Mary White'; and James Poe, 'The Gathering.'
