Current LAL Awards

The 2026 Awardees will be celebrated at a ceremony at the Massachusetts State House in May.

Level I (Grades 4 through 6)

First Place:
Fiona Dos Santos, Grade 6, Gibbs School, Arlington, wrote to Angie Thomas about The Hate U Give

Second Place:
Peggy Mulombe, Grade 6, Village School, Marblehead, wrote to Laura Imai Messina about The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World

Third Place:
Kayla Horn, Grade 5, Lexington Montessori School, Lexington, wrote to Leo Buscaglia about The Fall of Freddie the Leaf

Honorable Mentions:
Khadeejah Abdullah, Al-Hamra Academy, Shrewsbury
Blair Bowen, Village School, Marblehead
Brooklynn Green, White Street Elementary, Springfield
Sydney J. Logue-Redman, Lexington Montessori School, Lexington
Arjun Sharma, Individual Submission
Saanbi Subedi, Gibbs School, Arlington
Zafinah Tamjid, Al-Hamra Academy, Shrewsbury

Level II (Grades 7 and 8)

First Place:
Roger X. Gu, Grade 8, Hopkinton Middle School, Hopkinton, wrote to Charles Yu about Interior Chinatown

Second Place:
Anish Pochiraju, Grade 8, Gibbons Middle School, Westborough, wrote to Gary D. Schmidt about Okay for Now

Third Place:
Iona Naomi Fishburn, Grade 8, Waring School, Beverly, wrote to Sharon M. Draper about Out of My Mind

Honorable Mentions:
Hudson Allen, Marblehead Veterans Middle School, Marblehead
Nameer Bhuiyan, Al-Hamra Academy, Shrewsbury
Adela Castillo, Tenney Grammar School, Methuen
Ahaan Desai, Gibbons Middle School, Westborough
Abigail Melo, Tyngsborough Middle School, Tyngsborough
Riddhiman Tyagi, Gibbons Middle School, Westborough

Level III (Grades 9 through 12)

First Place:
Scout Jane Gieseke, Grade 9, Brookline High School, Brookline, wrote to Harper Lee about To Kill A Mockingbird

Second Place:
Eve Park, Grade 9, Brookline High School, Brookline, wrote to Min Jin Lee about Pachinko

Third Place:
Cassi Sullivan, Grade 11, Hamilton Wenham Regional High School, Wenham, wrote to Paige Rawl about Positive

Honorable Mentions:
Alexander G. Angulo, Everett High School, Everett
Meral Erdin, Melrose High School, Melrose
Lucille Fickie, Individual Submission
Callie E. Jeffery, Montrose School, Medfield
Hannah Li, Brookline High School, Brookline
Ezinne Onyemah, Arlington High School, Arlington
Luke-Javier Pérez-Lawrence, Brookline High School, Brookline

Commonwealth Judges in the 2026 Program
Cathy Messier, Reference Librarian at the Somerville Public Library; Roxanne Nieman, retired Northampton School District teacher; Taylor Tyng, author of fantastical fiction for middle grade readers. Screeners from Simmons University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Smith College assisted in the program as well.