Each year, a KBA committee for each grade band chooses the books for each of the five voting Nominee Lists (Preschool, K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12) in a year-long process. These committees are made up of volunteers and include school librarians, public librarians, and classroom teachers from across the state. Students should read books from a Nominee List before voting for their favorite title on that list. The specific voting process is determined at the individual school/library level. All the ballots are counted by an on-site coordinator (usually a teacher or librarian) and the results are transferred to an online tally sheet made available on the KASL website in March of the contest year. Votes are counted after the cutoff date (April 10th) and a winner is declared for each level during April.

The Kentucky Bluegrass Award is a program designed to encourage students to read widely from lists of current, well-reviewed literature that reflects a variety of experiences and points of view. Students are not restricted in their reading in any way in the KBA program. Schools, libraries, parents, and community organizations participating in the KBA should select books from these lists for inclusion in collections and programs that they feel are appropriate for the needs and interests of their patrons or students. These groups may provide some or all of the titles and develop local initiatives to promote the Kentucky Bluegrass Award.

Books on the Nominee Lists can be purchased as a set from several vendors or individually from bookstores, catalogs, and online sources. All titles on a current year's Nominee List have been published in the United States within the last 3 years.

August - March: Read and promote the KBA program

March 1 - April 10: Official KBA Voting Window for 2026 Nominees (these are the books you've read and promoted during the 2025/2026 school year)

March 16: Announcement date for the 2027 KBA Nominees 

April 17: 2026 KBA Winners announced!

May 1 - May 31: KBA Book Grant Applications open

July: Book Grant Winners Announced at the KASL Summer Refresher

We award book grants each summer to provide libraries with our KBA titles. 

Winners will be announced in July and should be picked up at Summer Refresher. If you are not attending Summer Refresher, you must have a Librarian friend willing to pick them up for you. 

Use the link provided to apply for one of our book grants!  Good Luck!

Apply Here until May 30, 2026