The inaugural winners of the Russell Freedman Award for Nonfiction for a Better World are Freedom! The Story of the Black Panther Party by Jetta Grace Martin, Joshua Bloom, and Waldo E. Martin, Jr., and The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs by Chana Stiefel, illustrated by Susan Gal, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) announced. The books share the award "due to an abundance of excellent work" reviewed by the judges.

"These two titles stood out for their brilliant, moving, and committed nonfiction for young people," the announcement said.

Freedom, a title for middle grade and YA readers, "presents an engaging and well-researched history of the Black Panther movement," while the picture book The Tower of Life is "a Holocaust remembrance story with great emotional resonance," according to the award announcement.

The new award—named in honor of Newbery winner and renowned children's author Freedman, who died in March 2018—is given to a work of nonfiction that "contributes to our understanding of how to make our world and society better." Presented by the SCBWI Impact and Legacy Fund, the SCBWI's charitable and community service division, it is available to the entire children's book community, not only SCBWI members.

Judges Federico Erebia, Tara Michener, Karen Winnick, and Betsy Groban discussed a short list of finalists that included Freedom!, The Tower of Life, as well as seven other titles: Where Have All the Birds Gone? Nature in Crisis by Rebecca E. Hirsch; Animal Allies: 15 Amazing Women in Wildlife Research by Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan; A River's Gift: The Mighty Elwha River Reborn by Patricia Newman, illustrated by Natasha Donovan; Science and the Skeptic: Discerning Fact from Fiction by Marc Zimmer; Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round: My Story of the Making of Martin Luther King Day by Kathlyn J. Kirkwood, illustrated by Steffy Walthall; Little Book of Joy by His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, illustrated by Rafael Lopez; and Just Wild Enough: Mireya Mayor, Primatologist by Marta Magellan, illustrated by Clementine Rocheron.

The winners receive $2500, plus $1000 to purchase copies of the winning book for distribution to schools and libraries. Over the next months, SCBWI will feature in-depth interviews with each creative team on its website.