Handy Topics in the Curriculum Department

will help you locate the different Golden Sower Award books that are in our collections.  Just click on a name to go to the record!

Please note: if a title is not linked, it means that we currently do not have it in our collection.  Please check the Kearney Public Library or consider ordering it from Interlibrary Loan

The Golden Sower award is the children's choice award for the state of Nebraska.

Thousands of Nebraska's students participate in the Golden Sower Award program each year as evidenced by the program's annual voting records.  In order to vote in any given category, a student must have read at least 4 titles in that category.

The award is broken down into the following categories:

Little Bluestem: titles primarily intended for grades K-2

Honeybee: titles primarily intended for grades 3-5

Meadowlark: titles primarily intended for grades 6-8

Bald Eagle: titles primarily intended for grades 9-12 (this category started with the 2025-2026 award year)

Over the years, there have been different category names.  

The Grades K-2 category has been known as "Picture Book" and "Primary Book";

The Grades 3-5 category has been known as "Chapter Book" and "Intermediate Grades";

The Grades 6-8 category has been known as "Novel" and "Young Adult"

The award listings below reflect the category names used at the time each year was awarded.