We're barely three months into the New Year, and Minneapolis writer Kate DiCamillo has already been showered with awards: She won her second Newbery Medal in January, just a couple of weeks after being named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Library of Congress.

Now come two more: Her Newbery winner, "Flora & Ulysses," is one of 10 books to be honored with the Christopher Medal, an award that has gone for 65 years to writers, producers, directors and illustrators who affirm the highest values of the human spirit. It is given by The Christophers, a nonprofit founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, to honor the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity.

The full list of Christopher winners is online here. The awards will be presented May 15 in New York.

DiCamillo also will be honored in early May at the Anderson Center for the arts in Red Wing. The A.P. Anderson Award annually is presented to a person for outstanding contributions to literature and the arts in Minnesota. Previous winners include Louise Erdrich, Emilie Buchwald, Jim Brandenburg, Joe Dowling, and Robert Bly and William Duffy.

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