THE PRICE OF MERCY and TALKING BOOKS Claim Top Prizes
2026 Winners Unveiled
The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America by Emily Galvin Almanza for Crown won the Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice. A former public defender, Almanza takes us behind the closed doors of America’s criminal courts, revealing how the institutions that claim to protect us are doing the exact opposite—and offering a blueprint for finally fixing the system.
Talking Books: Audiobook Inventor Dr. Robert B. Irwin and a New Way to Read, written by Jenny Lacika and illustrated by Ashanti Fortson for Simon and Schuster, won the Goddard Riverside CBC Youth Book Prize for Social Justice. This captivating picture book profiles determined innovator Dr. Robert B. Irwin, whose invention of the audiobook revolutionized the way stories are shared and opened the door for people of all abilities to become readers.
Recognizing Books that Tell Powerful Truths
Our book prizes celebrate the power of the written word to create change in the name of justice for all people—a value shared Goddard Riverside and our longtime supporters in the publishing community.
The Russo Prize debuted in 2017. It is named in honor of our former executive director, Stephan Russo, and was inspired by his appreciation of books that help us understand the issues of our day. We added the CBC Prize in 2019 in partnership with the Children’s Book Council, to highlight the important role of books in teaching children about social justice.
Adult Book Prize Rules
Eligible works are full-length, nonfiction books with subject matter related to housing, early childhood and secondary education, older adult life, city arts, social policy, and other important aspects of community life that support and promote Goddard Riverside’s mission of investing in people and strengthening community. The 2026 submission period will run from March 3 to May 1. There is a fee of $75 per submission.
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2026 Stephan Russo Prize Rules
The 2026 contest is now closed, but the rules can help you determine if your book qualifies for next year’s prize
Youth Book Prize Submissions
Eligible works are nonfiction books for children or teens related to urban life and issues and supporting values such as community, equality, opportunity, mutual understanding, respect, caring, and justice – in accordance with Goddard Riverside’s mission. This prize is administered by the Children’s Book Council. For more information, please contact cbc.info@cbcbooks.org.
Book Prize Judges
We’re grateful to the people who put so much time and thought into evaluating the books for our prizes: the judges! See the panels for both book prizes.
Past Winners
2025
Adult Book Prize
Alec Karakatsanis’s Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News [The New Press]
Youth Book Prize
Stacy C. Bauer’s Young Change Makers: Compassionate Kids, A Children’s Book About Kindness and Love [Sourcebooks Explore]
2024
Adult Book Prize
(Two Winners)
Bettina L. Love’s Punished For Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal [St. Martin’s Press]
Jonathan Blitzer’s Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: the United States, Central America, and the Making Of A Crisis [Penguin Press]
Youth Book Prize
Dianna Wilson Sirkovsky’s Just One Pebble. One Boy’s Quest to End Hunger [Clavis Publishing]
2023
Adult Book Prize
Richard D. Kahlenberg’s Excluded: How Snob Zoning, NIMBYism, and Class Bias Build the Walls We Don’t See [PublicAffairs/Hachette]
Youth Book Prize
Jeff Gottesfeld’s Food for Hope: How John van Hengel Invented Food Banks for the Hungry [Creston Books]
2022
Adult Book Prize
Andrea Elliott’s Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City [Random House]
Youth Book Prize
Christine McDonnell’s Sanctuary: Kip Tiernan and Rosie’s Place, the Nation’s First Shelter for Women illus. by Victoria Tentler-Krylo [Candlewick Press]
2021
Adult Book Prize
John Woodrow Cox’s Children Under Fire: An American Crisis [Ecco/HarperCollins]
Youth Book Prize
Annette Bay Pimentel’s Pura’s Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories; illus. by Magaly Morales [Harry N. Abrams]
2020
Adult Book Prize
Anne Kim’s Abandoned: America’s Lost Youth and the Crisis Of Disconnection [The New Press]
Youth Book Prize
Michael W. Waters’ For Beautiful Black Boys Who Believe in a Better World [Flyaway Books]
2019
Adult Book Prize
(Two Winners)
Jan Haldipur’s No Place on the Corner: The Costs of Aggressive Policing [NYU Press]
Alex Kotlowitz’s An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago [Nan A. Talese]
2018
Adult Book Prize
Bernice Yeung’s In a Day’s Work: The Fight to End Sexual Violence Against America’s Most Vulnerable Workers [The New Press]
2017
Adult Book Prize
Susan Burton’s Becoming Ms. Burton [The New Press]
Each year we interview the winners of the Book Prizes. Learn more on our Book Chats page.